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Number of foreign workers very small: Minister
Manpower Minister Muhammad Hanif Dhakiri has denied issues regarding the growing number of foreign workers in Indonesia
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Manpower Minister Muhammad Hanif Dhakiri has denied issues regarding the growing number of foreign workers in Indonesia.
'Foreign workers in Indonesia are only around 70,000; it's very few compared to the country's total workforce which reaches 129 million,' said Hanif on Friday as quoted by Antara news agency.
He illustrated how Malaysia, which has 27 million citizens, was home to 1.2 million Indonesians. Meanwhile, Singapore, which has 5 million citizens, hosts around 1 million foreign workers.
'[You] can also compare [Indonesia] with Qatar or the United Arab Emirates which has around 45 million citizens. The number of foreign workers there is half of their total number of citizens. Foreign workers in Indonesia are not even close to 0.1 percent,' said Hanif.
According to Hanif, requirements for foreigners working in the country were numerous, including competency, position suitability, assistance in technology transfer and expansion of employment opportunities.
There is also a requirement for a 1:10 ratio between the increase of foreign workers and locals, which means that for every foreign worker, a company should recruit 10 new local staff members.
Hanif gave his assurances that foreigners could only work as experts in certain positions, which automatically limited them from entering all sectors.
'If, for instance, a foreigner was found to be working as a low-level operator, it would be considered a violation and we would immediately take action according to the regulation,' said Hanif. (kes)(++++)
