The government announced on Monday that it would change the unwieldy nomenclature of the Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI). The organization will be renamed the Agency for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BP2MI).

Former diplomat Tatang Razak, the acting head of the BNP2TKI, said agency officials were consolidating changes to the organization’s structure with the help of the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reforms Ministry. They plan to introduce the reformed entity in 2020.

He said the agency would see “fundamental changes” to its structure, budgeting and human resources, although services would continue as usual in the meantime.

The restructuring is expected to be finalized in a forthcoming presidential regulation.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo recently announced plans to revamp the entire regulatory framework for the labor industry, which will simplified in a highly anticipated omnibus bill on manpower.

The new framework seeks to simplify a heavily bureaucratic and politicized industry that has been accused of treating Indonesian migrant workers as commodities to be exported overseas. The initiative is part of Jakarta’s broader focus on human resources development.

The government also plans to increase wages for migrant laborers and to significantly reduce legal cases involving migrant workers by 2024.

BNP2TKI estimates that more than 6 million Indonesians work overseas, equivalent to almost 5 percent of the country’s total labor force. Together they sent US$11 billion back to Indonesia in remittances last year.

Taking a cue from a mandate in Law No. 18/2017 on migrant worker protection, the new agency is expected to be restructured based on region and will introduce protection-oriented operations, leaving behind the function-based structure that had been in place for decades.

This is to promote a comprehensive understanding of the placement and protection of migrant workers, Tatang said.

The BP2MI plans to send more skilled and professional laborers abroad by helping workers find jobs overseas.

“It is expected to reduce the placement of [workers in] low-level and high-risk [job] categories, such as domestic work,” he said during a press briefing at the agency headquarters in Jakarta on Monday. “2020 will be the time for a determinative transition.”

Although the numbers are declining, the agency’s data shows that domestic workers still top the list of preferred professions for Indonesian migrant workers. In 2019, there were 80,762 domestic migrant workers.

BNP2TKI data shows an increase in the departure of laborers in more skilled professions, such as caregivers, operators, hydraulic technicians and construction workers.

Labor rights activists such as Wahyu Susilo have urged the government to maintain the spirit of protection that was fought for in the 2017 labor law.

“Improving the ‘quality’ of migrant workers must be on par with education and training based on rights and professionalism,” Wahyu told The Jakarta Post.

Previously, the Migrant Care executive director expressed his concerns about including the 2017 law in the upcoming omnibus bill.

Wahyu said it was better to improve the skills of domestic workers than to “ignore” them.

Tatang acknowledged there were still major challenges that needed to be addressed.

“There are still many who go to the Middle East as workers [using non-procedural methods],” he said, noting rampant cases of labor exploitation in the placement of migrant workers overseas.

To combat exploitation, the reformed agency will develop new schemes for migrant labor placement. Currently, the government has developed schemes with a number of countries.

Direct-hiring and special placement schemes for Indonesians are now in place in Taiwan, and the government is developing a specific skilled worker placement arrangement with Japan, which requires that job seekers obtain a special visa, produce a certificate of eligibility, give proof of language proficiency and meet other requirements to land a job.

Indonesia is also working with Saudi Arabia to establish a “one-channel system” despite a moratorium that has been in place since 2011 on sending low-skilled migrant workers to the Middle East. Officials have said the online system is still under development and that its implementation does not run counter to the existing ban.

Jakarta also is eyeing more partners to the west, with Tatang hinting at possible arrangements with Kuwait and Germany in the healthcare industry. (tjs)

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