Taiwan lifts ban on Indonesian workers

Taiwan lifts ban on Indonesian workers

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Labor recruitment and export agencies hailed Taiwan's decision to
lift the two-year ban imposed on Indonesian workers, saying that
some 70,000 workers who had formerly worked in Taiwan were ready
to return to the territory.

The chairman of the Asia-Pacific Labor Exporter Association
(Ajaspac), Anung Sugiarto, said the lifting of the ban was a
result of enhanced bilateral ties between Jakarta and Taipei and
the new government's intensive lobbying to help cope with the
unemployment problem at home.

"Taipei lifted the ban at the request of Indonesia," he said
here on Wednesday.

The ban was lifted following a memorandum of understanding
(MOU) to enhance ties between the two states in terms of labor
issues in Bali on Dec. 17. The agreement was signed by Taipei
Economic and Trade Representative to Indonesia David Y.L. Lin and
his Indonesian counterpart Ferry Yahya in the presence of
Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris and his
Taiwanese counterpart Chen Chu.

The MOU was signed quietly since Indonesia accepts the One
China Policy, that bars it from establishing diplomatic ties with
Taiwan.

Taiwan suspended temporarily the recruitment of Indonesian
workers after it received complaints over the exorbitant fees
charged by Indonesian recruitment agencies and their
unwillingness to provide adequate legal protection and insurance
for workers.

The suspension was issued because the number of foreign
workers leaving the workplace and absenteeism exceeded the Taiwan
authorities's tolerable limit of 2.4 percent.

Many workers left the workplace or stayed away from work in
protest over the high fees charged by their Indonesian sponsors.
The fees are deducted from their monthly wages.

The Indonesian government has promised to drop brokers' fees
charged for each worker by 30 percent (of his/her salary) to
about 40,000 New Taiwan dollars (US$1,230). The two sides also
agreed on how employers and laborers should split the cost of
health insurance and other fees.

Paul Minggo, another labor exporter, said that an estimated
70,000 workers whose labor contracts had terminated before the
ban, have contacted their own suppliers in a bid to return to
Taiwan.

"A small number of them has departed while most are still
preparing the necessary documents to go back to Taiwan," he said,
citing that around 35,000 Indonesians are working at present in
Taiwan and most of them are employed as housemaids and in
construction projects, the manufacturing sector and hospitals.

Meanwhile, Fahmi questioned the poor insurance scheme provided
by Indonesian labor exporters for the workers they sent overseas.
The minister said he was considering an overall review of the
legal protection for Indonesian workers employed abroad.

Fahmi raised the question when he handed over Rp 418 million
to the relatives of Sumiati Sumarsih binti Sahwid, a woman worker
from Subang, West Java, who died in a traffic accident in Taipei
on June 17, 2004.

PT Bahana Trimitra Selaras who sponsored Sumiati's departure
to Taipei paid only Rp 4 million in compensation.

The compensation was handed over to Sumiati' son Eko in the
presence of his grandfather Sahwid. The fund was given in the
form of bank cheque since it was transferred through Bank BNI.

Over the last three years, at least 16 Indonesian workers have
died due to work-related accidents and diseases, including SARS,
and seven of whom have not yet received any compensation.