Crisis may benefit RI migrant workers

Ridwan Max Sijabat ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Nusa Dua, Bali   |  Tue, 10/14/2008 10:26 AM  |  National

The government remains confident the global financial crisis will not affect Indonesia's more than four million migrant workers.

Manpower and Transmigration Minister Erman Suparno said Indonesian workers were still in demand for certain jobs in formal and informal sectors in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Europe.

Erman said his ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry had closely analyzed the potential impacts of the global crisis on the country's overseas workers and had found no cause for alarm.

"More than two million Indonesian (migrant) workers are employed in households, plantations, construction sectors and manufacturing industries," he told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of an Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Jakarta on Monday.

"Those are unaffected sectors in rich countries in Asia Pacific regions and the Middle East.

"Malaysia needs our workers for its oil palm plantations and construction projects. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have recruited hundreds of thousands of Indonesians in manufacturing industries as have Middle Eastern countries."

Erman said he had seen no signs to suggest countries in Asia and the Middle East would stop recruiting Indonesian workers.

The minister acknowledged there were Indonesian workers employed in Europe and the United States.

"More than one million Indonesian workers work as nurses in hospitals and elderly houses and as sailors on tankers and tourist yachts," Erman said.

"They have documents and certificates, and are skilled and paid according to international standards. They do the jobs as no locals or workers from other countries want to do the jobs."

European Commissioner Vladimir Spidla has said the global economic slowdown triggered by the American financial crisis was unlikely to damage demand for Asian workers, including Indonesians, in Western countries.

He said the crisis had affected the European economy, including the manufacturing, tourism and maritime sectors. He said those sectors would need more skilled workers to recover from the global crisis.

Spidla said the issue of migrant workers was to be a main topic of discussion during the ASEM labor ministerial summit and that an announcement would be made in reference to the issue during the Bali declaration, which will be read during the summit's closing ceremony Wednesday.

Delegates from 45 from Asian and European countries met in Bali this week to discuss labor issues. Trade unions in the regions demanded their voices be heard in the discussions.

The ASEM labor ministerial meeting will follow a tripartite social dialogue on globalization involving ASEM labor ministers, employers and trade unions in Brussels at the end of July.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.