RI to remain open to expats: Official

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Despite the new language proficiency test requirement, expatriates working in Indonesia should not fear of loosing their jobs because Indonesia will remain open to foreign workers and students, says a government official.

The chairman of the National Commission for Standardization of Professions (BNSP), Mudjiman, said he was surprised at the overwhelming reaction from foreign workers to the new labor policy.

"Like other countries, Indonesia makes policies not to bar foreigners from entering, working, or studying in Indonesia, but to facilitate their entry into Indonesia so that their stay gives mutual benefit for the country and the foreigners themselves," he told The Jakarta Post here on Friday.

Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris said recently that starting next year foreigners wanting to work or study in Indonesia would be required to pass an Indonesian language proficiency test and to learn Indonesian culture to help them develop better communications with their local environment.

The language proficiency test will be just one of several new administrative requirements for foreigners to obtain work permits from the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, or study permits from the Education Ministry.

Mudjiman, who is also director general of labor productivity at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, acknowledged that the new policy was restrictive. He said the flow of foreign immigrants into Indonesia had to be restricted or reduced in order to protect local workers.

"What the government is doing is actually equal treatment, as other countries do in housing and employing foreigners," he said, citing Middle East countries that require that Indonesian immigrant workers speak Arabic. He said that such rulings also prevailed for Indonesians employed in Korea and Japan.

He said that BNSP had not yet yielded a clear concept on how the test would be conducted.

He claimed, however, that the new policy would encourage foreigners to build better communications with locals and learn more about Indonesian culture.

"Foreign workers will also be able to transfer their skills and knowledge to locals only if they speak in bahasa proficiently," he said, referring to the Indonesian language.

Director general for labor supervision at the ministry Maruddin Simanihuruk concurred, saying that the ongoing global trade liberalization was actually a restriction for expatriates.

"And mastering bahasa is actually a competence Indonesia has required from foreign workers, in liberalizing our labor market in all sectors," he said, adding that with the new policy the government had no intention of discouraging foreign investors from coming to Indonesia.

He said that the number of foreigners in Indonesia who worked or studied using government permits was around 28,000, and that increasingly more were expected to come in line with the implementation of Asean Free Trade Area next year, and the World Trade Organization labor market liberalizations required in 2008.