Unemployment could seriously threaten elections
Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Manpower and Transmigration Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea said on Friday that the number of unemployed people would increase by about 2.5 million to over 45 million this year.
He added that the millions of unemployed could pose a serious threat to political stability and the elections if no measures were taken to help cope with it.
"Most of the newly unemployed will be young people, mostly elementary and high school dropouts as well as university graduates who will not be able to find jobs," he said during a press conference on the 2004 labor situation here.
The unemployment problem has reached an alarming level because of the 42.7 million unemployed workers, 10.8 million were in the category of full unemployment and 31.9 million in the disguised unemployment category (informal sector or part-time workers).
Jacob called on political parties not to manipulate the unemployment situation during the election campaign to prevent violence and to maintain political and economic stability, saying that the jobless were definitely a group that is vulnerable to provocation and political chaos prior to and during the elections.
"The government actually is not worried about the political condition during the elections because there are still many people who do earn a good living and enjoy life," he added.
Indonesia will hold its main legislative election on April 5 and the direct presidential election on July 5, with a possible run-off on Sept. 20.
Jacob said that besides his own programs at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, he had been coordinating with other fellow ministers to help solve the unemployment problem.
"I have signed MOUs with the tourism minister, agriculture minister and maritime development minister to put on the table all problems in carrying out programs to absorb the unemployed in those three sectors.
He said the Agriculture Minister would prepare labor intensive social safety net projects, the Tourism Ministry would provide training programs for workers who will eventually be employed in the tourism sector while the Maritime Development Ministry would provide nets and vessels so people could work as fishermen.
He, however, did not hazard a guess about how many of the unemployed could be absorbed in the three sectors.
The minister said the government would continue to develop the labor export and the labor placement at home to help reduce the unemployment rate to a minimum.
"The Manpower and Transmigration Ministry has set a target of sending around one million workers to the Middle East and Asia- Pacific region this year and resettle thousands of others in palm-oil plantations at home," he said.
Chairman of the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) Sofjan Wanandi expressed his great concern over a possible unemployment explosion this year, saying the unemployment rate could reach 50 million this year because many manufacturing and forestry companies would have lay off their employees due to a dearth of new international manufacturing orders and a government-lowered logging quota.
Labor observer Bomer Pasaribu said he was skeptical that the government would be able to ease the unemployment problem because of the Indonesian workers' low bargaining position and the long election season.
"In addition to increasingly scarce labor opportunities, Indonesian workers were unable to compete with those from the Philippines, Vietnam, China and Thailand when it comes to working in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea and the Middle East. Indonesian workers have no other alternatives but to enter the informal sectors which are prone to labor abuses. And violence against Indonesian workers will continue overseas because most of them will only be able to get jobs in the informal sector," he said.