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RI finally accepts diaspora
Global challenge: Taufik Hanafi (second right), a staff member with the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), talks during the fourth Global Summit Congress of Indonesian Diaspora in Jakarta on Monday
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span class="inline inline-center">Global challenge: Taufik Hanafi (second right), a staff member with the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), talks during the fourth Global Summit Congress of Indonesian Diaspora in Jakarta on Monday. He is accompanied by (from left) the chairman of Indonesian Diaspora chairman Edward Wanandi, event organizer Herry Utomo and moderator Ida Hutomo.(JP/Ibrahim Irsyad)
The government has finally recognized its large overseas population with the launch of the long-awaited Diaspora Card on Monday.
Besides officially recognizing the diaspora as part of Indonesia, the card is expected to have a larger role in the future as the Foreign Ministry continues to talk with other ministries and institutions to add more facilities to it.
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said it was a program President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo devised after making numerous visits to Indonesians living abroad since he assumed office in 2014.
“The diaspora card will provide facilities to [a member of the] Indonesian diaspora, whether he or she is an Indonesian citizen or not,” she told reporters.
Latest data from the ministry suggested there were 8 million Indonesians in more than 120 countries, leading Jokowi to declare the government should do more to enlarge their contribution to the country’s development.
The high level of emigration, however, has yet to be followed by any success attracting the attention and support of the diaspora for the country. While many believe that working overseas provides them with better compensation than at home, others were unable to work legally in Indonesia because of the restrictions set by employment regulations.
Niniek Kun Naryatie, the ministry’s expert staff member on the social, cultural and empowerment aspects of overseas Indonesians, said on Monday that each facility was granted through the card under the authority of the relevant ministry or institution.
“We are just giving them acknowledgement of their existence. Later, other ministries will issue regulations on what facilities would be given to card holders,” she said.
People who would be able to apply for the card are Indonesian citizens living overseas for more than two years, or foreigners who previously were Indonesian citizens, or foreigners with parents who were previously Indonesian citizens, or foreigners whose parents are still Indonesian citizens.
The card is to be introduced at the Fourth Diaspora Global Summit in Jakarta on Tuesday.
During the summit’s first day on Monday, speakers in a discussion on global diaspora protection and legal aid said they appreciated that many parties now protected Indonesians abroad.
“Protection for the diaspora used to be done exclusively by the government, but now the media, NGOs and indeed the diaspora also need to take part. So, we [the ministry] are trying to widen our stakeholders,” said the ministry’s director for the protection of Indonesian nationals and entities abroad, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal.
According to Iqbal, 70 percent of a total of 7.2 million Indonesian migrant workers are low-skilled.
Several collaborative actions have been initiated to strengthen the protection of Indonesians abroad, such as Diaspora Contact Points, a social media group for Foreign Ministry officials and the Indonesian diaspora and cooperation between the diaspora and Indonesian missions overseas.
Meanwhile, Diani Ariesta, from a grassroot protection movement, suggested a Diaspora Task Force that would foster cooperation between the diaspora, government and law enforcement agencies to prevent and solve international migration-related issues.
“From all the cases I have seen, I believe prevention is better than amending. Problems usually arise because of a limited amount of prevention activities before an Indonesian departs,” she added.
Another presentation at the forum was about a recent contribution by the Indonesian American Society of Academics (IASA) to provide better health and education in Papua and West Papua.
Working together with the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), 29 professors in IASA-initiated telemedicine and boarding schools are to make sure that adequate levels of medical and education facilities could cover remote areas in both provinces, with a telemedicine program to link health community centers (Puskesmas) with large hospitals in the provincial capitals that are capable of performing more advanced medical treatments.
In West Papua, the project is currently installing connections between Puskesmas and Sorong General Hospital. In Papua, Dok II Hospital in Jayapura is still assessing telemedicine requirements.
“Meanwhile, we have also started to build boarding schools for local youth as geographical conditions force them to spend much time walking from home to school,” Bappenas head Bambang PS Brodjonegoro said.
Intern Karina Aprildhatin contributed to this story.
