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Minister says Indonesians should have skills before working abroad
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Dozens of Indonesian migrant workers gather in an airport in Palu, Central Sulawesi. (Antara/Fiqman Sunandar)
M
anpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri has suggested that Indonesian nationals possess relevant skills and competencies before working in other countries to reduce professional risks.
"I am telling the workers, do not ever work in other countries before you have the skills and competencies required, because the risks are higher when you work abroad," he said at a discussion commemorating International Migrants Day, which falls on Dec. 18.
According to data from the Agency of Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI), there are 97,349 Indonesians working in countries like Malaysia, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Hong Kong.
From the figure, 40.49 percent were junior high school graduates and 28.57 percent were elementary school graduates. Only 1.7 percent held a diploma or bachelor's degree.
However, Hanif said that the government could not prohibit workers from taking a job abroad as it was not against the law.
"Working abroad is the basic right of every citizen. The government's job is to facilitate and ensure the worker placements and protections," he said.
One of the facilities the government provides, Hanif said, is the One-Stop Integrated Service for workers, which aims to optimize administrative processes ranging from registration and skills assessment to placement.
"For this year, nine one-stop services have been operating in several regions, including in Surabaya, East Java, and Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara," he said, adding that next year the government planned to build 10 more service centers across the country. (adt)
