Taiwan sends back thousands of RI workers every month

JAKARTA (JP): Taiwan sends back 2,000 Indonesian migrant workers each month due to their lack of skills and ability to speak Mandarin, Indonesian migrant worker supplier agency (PJTKI) official said.

Autonomous Agency for the Supply of Migrant Workers to Taiwan (BO Taindo) Chairman Paul Mingo said on Wednesday that from around 5,000 Indonesian workers sent to Taiwan each month, only 3,000 were able to stay and work in the country.

To solve the problem, Paul said that starting Aug.8, all migrant workers planning to work in Taiwan should pass a competency test and provide a certificate as proof.

Paul further said that due to language problems many of the Indonesian workers run away from their employer's house while many others only managed to survive for three to six months in Taiwan.

"We know that the obligation to provide competency test certificate will cut the registration for migrant workers up to 50 percent. But, we have to give importance to quality and not quantity," Paul said as quoted by Antara.

Paul also disclosed that four privately owned banks -- Niaga Bank, Danamon Bank, East Java Bank and China Trust Bank -- will help financing the replacement fee of Indonesian migrant workers to Taiwan.

"There is an agreement with the four banks to provide loans for the migrant workers," Paul said, adding that the replacement fee of each migrant worker was NT 144.000 (US$4150).

The migrant worker should pay the fee, in monthly installments from their salary.

"From now on we are not going to cut their salary as they will pay the fee to the bank," Paul said. (dja)