Workers can't go to Karawang

SURAKARTA, Central Java: Police in Sragen have prevented 88 workers from going to seek work in the rapidly-growing industrial town of Karawang, West Java, on the grounds that they do not have official permits.

"We are investigating the company that tried to smuggle in the workers," chief of the Sragen police precinct, Lt. Col. Soenarko, said.

The workers, mostly women, were stopped by police as they tried to board a Surakarta-bound bus in Sragen, Antara reported. They were then questioned at the bus station.

The police said they were treating the matter as a case of attempted smuggling because neither the workers nor the manpower supplier had a permit from the manpower ministry, Soenarko said.

"If something bad happened to them on their way to Karawang or to their work place, who would be held responsible?," he asked.

He said the workers' destination was an electronics factory in Karawang, at which they had been promised a daily wage of Rp 4,800 (US$2.15). (rms)