RI to establish agency to raise labor exports
RI to establish agency to raise labor exports
JAKARTA (JP): The meeting of labor exporters ended here
yesterday recommending the establishment of an independent agency
to promote the business and to better protect Indonesian workers
abroad.
The meeting also decided that the agency should be manned by
representatives of the labor export companies, manpower experts,
banks, government officials as well as the receiving countries.
The agency should also design strategies for market expansion
and devise ways to provide better legal protection for workers,
it was suggested. However, there were no details as to when the
body is to be established.
"The agency should be able to provide thorough solutions to
the problems that Indonesia faces in promoting labor exports,"
Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief said.
The three-day meeting was filled with discussions among senior
government officials, experts, as well as representatives of 154
labor exporters, private and state-owned banks, provincial
administrations and 12 ambassadors of importing countries.
The minister voiced an old grievance about how two of the
biggest problems that Indonesia faces are unskilled workers and
the limited market.
"Our market is still limited to a few countries which require
only low-skilled workers," he said.
"With this agency, we will try to expand our labor market and
start sending skilled and professional workers to developed
countries such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, and
European countries," he said.
Another problem that Latief again spoke of in the meeting
yesterday was the poor legal protection for Indonesian workers
abroad. He cited the differences in legal systems between
Indonesia and the importing countries as one of the reasons.
Foreign workers employed as domestics in Saudi Arabia, for
example, fall into the jurisdiction of the country's home affairs
rather than its manpower ministry, Latief said.
"The agency, once it's established, should be able to play a
role in bridging these differences in order to give workers
maximum legal protection," he said.
Chairman of the Association of Labor Export Companies (APJATI)
Mahfudz Djaelani said labor export is a "sensitive business"
because the commodity exported are human beings.
"The labor exporters need constantly to be on the alert," he
said.
He cited a number of cases where Indonesian workers' rights
were abused, and where it was Indonesians who broke the laws in
the countries in which they were employed.
Some female workers in Malaysia, for instance, were forced to
become prostitutes, he said.
"We cannot turn a blind eye to these problems because they
could tarnish Indonesia's image," he said.
He pointed out that Indonesia is facing ever stiffer
competition with other labor-exporting countries such as the
Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and China.
Anthon Sihombing, president of PT Luhur Asa Vrima company,
refused to be blamed for problems that occurred because of the
poor quality of the workers. "Most of the companies don't have
the financial resources to provide adequate training for the
workers to be sent abroad," he said.
"Banks should provide special loan schemes for the labor
exporters so that they can provide training for workers," he
said. (rms)