Monday, February 17, 2003
Indonesia temporarily suspends labour exports Associated Press Jakarta, February 17
Indonesia has suspended sending its workers overseas until new programmes, including language courses, are in place to ensure they improve their skills before departure, Manpower Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea said on Monday. "I have stopped sending Indonesian labourers temporarily to all (countries)," Nuwa Wea said.
"It is because of the poor quality of our workers," Nuwa Wea said, citing the major hurdle was the workers' inability to communicate with their English-speaking employers.
Nuwa Wea said his ministry will soon implement programmes to alleviate the problems and would monitor the situation for an unspecified period.
Labour agencies have sent hundreds of thousands of Indonesian women to work as housemaids, nannies and caregivers for the elderly in wealthy countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East over the last decade.
About 43,000 Indonesians are employed in neighbouring Singapore, Nua Wea said.
In 2001, the government announced it would end organised departures to Singapore because of the high death toll of its workers on the island. The ban, however, was never enforced.
Nuwa Wea said about the workers who are already in other Southeast Asian nations and in the Middle East will not be affected by the new rules.
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