Indonesia: Rieke Diah Pitaloka Urges Govt to Revise Policy on Foreign Worker

• Apr 30, 2018

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Indonesian Workers Confederation Head Rieke Diah Pitaloka considered several policies on the labor and foreign workers should be revised.

“We have to be fair, what [policy] should be revised then revise it from the root. Because, if there is no improvement from the root, it [the problem] will further continue, in any governmental period,” said Rieke at Bumbu Desa Cikini, Jakarta, on April 29.

Rieke argued the issue of foreign workers in Indonesia could not be discussed partially considering the country is one of the largest sending countries of migrant workers, such as to the Middle East and Asia including China. “So I thought this issue could not be discussed separately,” she added.

As the report suggested, the emergence of the issue regarding foreign employment was brought up following the Presidential Decree No. 20 of 2018 ratified by President Joko Widodo. The policy was seen as a threat to decreasing job opportunities for the community.

Furthermore, Gerindra Party Deputy Chairman Fadli Zon proposed to conduct a special committee of the inquiry right on the dispute. According to him, there was no urgency to issue the policy on Foreign Workers as it did not increase the job employment.

Meanwhile, the Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri denied the allegation noting the regulation on foreign workers would be detrimental to Indonesian people which he deemed that would boost the economic growth.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/news/2018/04/30/056918025/Rieke-Diah-Pitaloka-Urges-Govt-to-Revise-Policy-on-Foreign-Worker