Workers for Malaysia

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told President Soeharto in Jakarta last week that his country needs 17,000 workers from here. They will be employed on Malaysian plantations. Whether the request can be met or not depends very much on the ability of the neighboring countries to solve their remaining labor problems.

The main problems existing between Indonesia and Malaysia are the influx of illegal Indonesian workers there and protection for legal workers.

The Indonesian government has done so much in its efforts to improve the supply and training of overseas workers. The goal is to improve the workers' skills and protect them all the way from their hometowns to their destination abroad.

But the government seems to need to reflect on the true function of workers in the context of national development. At home, creating job opportunities remain a tough challenge. The economic growth which stands between six and seven percent annually is still too low to provide jobs for the more than 2.5 million Indonesians who enter the job market every year. Exporting workers is one way to overcome the crisis.

The workers have played a pivotal role in overcoming social problems at home. So they deserve protection from abuse or exploitation by certain elements here.

Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief sees another function of workers. He said recently that if the sending of workers is managed professionally they can contribute about US$18 billion in foreign currency to the nation during the current sixth National Development Plan.

-- Kompas