Try Sutrisno calls for improved labor policy

Try Sutrisno calls for improved labor policy

JAKARTA (JP): Vice President Try Sutrisno called for reform of
the country's labor export policy yesterday to help improve
Indonesia's image overseas.

When addressing a manpower ministry workshop, Try said a
crackdown on illegal labor suppliers, tighter control of work
permits and people choosing overseas jobs more carefully was
needed.

The complicated existing licensing procedures have discouraged
many job seekers wanting to work overseas from obtaining them and
so they often go illegally.

"Indonesia's image and dignity have been hurt by the huge
number of Indonesians working abroad illegally," Try said.

Hundreds of thousands of Indonesians work illegally in
Malaysia. Earlier this week Kuala Lumpur deported almost 300 of
them.

The absence of research on the types of jobs available abroad
has resulted in many Indonesian female workers ending up with
indecent jobs and being poorly treated by their employers, he
said.

The latest official to raise concern over Indonesian workers'
plight abroad was Mien Sugandhi, the State Minister of Women's
Roles.

Earlier this month she said she planned to go to Saudi Arabia
to acquire first-hand information on reports that many Indonesian
workers there were living in deplorable conditions and had been
reduced to working as prostitutes.

Try said he supported the export of workers but that he wanted
to see the system better organized so that Indonesians could
compete with workers from other countries.

The tight competition should encourage vocational training
centers and related government agencies to provide job seekers
with proper skills, he said.

At the meeting, also attended by State Minister of
Administrative Reforms T.B. Silalahi, Attorney General Singgih
and Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief, Try also urged the
Federation of the All Indonesian Workers Union to improve its
standards.

The federation is the country's only government-recognized
labor organization.

During a question-and-answer session, Try warned that workers
should not be used by interest groups to satisfy the latter's
political ends.

"Workers can be used to create instability which would disrupt
development and hurt their interests," he said. (pan)