Workers for Malaysia

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