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RI workers can stay up to five years in Japan
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Sri Purwati, an Indonesian migrant worker in Taipei, Taiwan, in a beauty salon course held by the Global Workers Organization. (JP/Nezar Patria)
T
housands of aspiring Indonesian workers can soon get their golden ticket to work in Japan following the signing of a bilateral program agreement involving the two Asian countries.
On Tuesday, Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) with Japanese Ambassador Masafumi Ishii on the "specified skilled workers" scheme. Through the framework, Indonesians working in 14 designated sectors — from care workers to the aviation industry — can stay up to five years under the "specified skilled workers" category, given they meet adequate language level and skill standards.
“Japan has an ageing population while we have a demographic dividend. So this partnership will greatly benefit both countries,” Hanif explained on the sidelines of the MoC signing event.
Ishii said Japan had also talked with other countries but Indonesia was its top priority. "That is because of the great potential of Indonesian workers and the country's steady economic growth," he said.
Within the next five years, he said the ministry would aim to fill at least 20 percent or 70,000 people out of the nearly 350,000 foreign workers quota that the Japanese government had set in the latest revision of its immigration law.
To achieve the target, the minister said he would adjust curriculums at skills training centers across Indonesia to meet Japanese standards. He will also push both current and former Indonesians who had interned in Japan to participate in the program as they already have the necessary language skills and job competency.
Still, Hanif expressed high hopes that the private sector would join hands with the ministry to supply competitive individuals in the national workforce, whether it is through skills training or language courses.
