Volunteers accused of politicizing labor export issue to discredit govt

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has blamed unauthorized volunteers and the mass media for exposing the much-criticized labor export, which has brought negative impacts upon many Indonesian workers employed overseas.

Spokesman for the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration Hotma Pandjaitan said on Friday that the ministry had detected a concerted move by certain volunteers and groups to politicize the labor export issue in order to discredit the government.

"The move is indicated by the systematic exposure by several mass media of numerous incidents that befell many migrant workers, and this could affect bilateral ties between Indonesia and the countries where the workers were employed," he said at a press conference.

He was referring to the recent move led by volunteer Imam Prasodjo to help 19 women workers return from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to their remote home villages in Cianjur, West Java. Imam, who is also a lecturer at the University of Indonesia, was accompanied by a legislator, an airport authority official and a police officer in providing the women clothes and some money to buy their bus tickets home.

The 19 workers were returned to Indonesia for developing problems with their employers and host families in Kuwait and other Middle Eastern countries, where they were working as migrant workers.

Imam has stressed that he and other fellow volunteers had no political motive for their actions, but helped the troubled workers solely for humanitarian reasons.

The manpower ministry has been also criticized for the sexual abuse and maltreatment of four other women workers, who arrived home from the Middle East last Friday. The four, who have suffered severe distress, are still receiving medical treatment and counseling at the National Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta.

The public's anger was roused last year when the government responded slowly to Malaysian authorities' arresting hundreds of illegal Indonesian workers and deporting more than 750 others. Dozens of workers died of hunger and serious illnesses in the East Kalimantan district of Nunukan, which borders East Malaysia, after they had lost their overseas livelihood.

The manpower ministry has been criticized for being unprofessional its management of the labor export and the rampant extortion of the sector -- from recruitment to training, to overseas placement, until their return home.

Data from the Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers (Kopbumi) and the Solidarity for Women (SP) show that 60 migrant workers have died during their overseas employment, while hundreds of others have been repatriated for problems with their overseas employers this year.

The government has placed more than 420,000 workers, mostly in the Middle East and the Asia Pacific, including Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Director General for Labor Placement Overseas I Gusti Gede Arke at the ministry defended the labor export, which he said was part of the government's program to cope with the unemployment that has reached an alarming level. He said the negative incidents were isolated cases of the program that has benefited millions of Indonesian workers and their families.

"Not only third parties, NGOs and the press, but the government is also quite concerned over all the incidents that have befallen our migrant workers. We don't wish them to develop troubles in their workplaces. Labor extortion is still rampant ... but the public should know that not only this ministry, but also many other government agencies are involved in labor export.

He also revealed that a great many workers had traveled on tourist visas, or had taken illegal measures through unauthorized parties to enter foreign countries and find work.

Arke insisted the government had no plans to close down Terminal 3, a special terminal at the airport dedicated to dispatching workers to their new posts and to receiving repatriating migrant workers. The terminal is overcrowded almost every day, as between 500 and 900 workers arrive at the terminal daily -- more than that on the eve of the fasting month of Ramadhan.

"The terminal is managed jointly by state-owned PT Angkasa Pura, the manpower ministry and labor exporters, and is part of the labor export system as regulated by Ministerial Decree No. 104A/2002 on labor placement," he said.

Many parties have strongly urged the government to close down the terminal, where "the satanic circle of labor exploitation starts, on the workers' trip home following their arrival in Jakarta".

Arke pledged to tighten the procedures of the labor export to help decrease the number of troubled workers in the future.

"We are waiting for inputs from concerned parties to help revamp the labor export program and accelerate it to improve the government's revenue from the sector."

According to data at the manpower ministry, around one million workers are working legally overseas, while around 500,000 others are employed illegally, including 46,000 in United States.

Last year, the government received US$1 billion in revenue from the export of more than 650,000 workers.