The biggest problem for Indonesian workers in Taiwan are the “exorbitant” brokerage fees, which are unacceptable, Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Workers official Agusdin Sabiantoro said on Friday.
Sabiantoro said that a major problem for his nation’s migrant workers has been the excessively high fees manpower brokers charge them to work in Taiwan.
An Indonesian worker arriving in Taiwan has to pay brokers about NT$60,000 (US$1,906) in related expenses, Agusdin said, after his nation warned again on Wednesday that it was planning to stop sending domestic workers to Taiwan in 2017.
The payments represent a heavy burden for Indonesian workers and are unacceptable according to International Labor Organization regulations, he said.
Sabiantoro said Indonesian workers have had to go along with Taiwanese regulations in the past, but Indonesia plans to begin working with Taiwan on rules and other concerns related to the welfare of these migrant workers.
As of the end of January last year, Indonesia had the biggest contingent of foreign nationals working in Taiwan, accounting for 41.6 percent, or 231,489, of the 556,412 foreign workers in the nation, Ministry of Labor statistics showed.
Of the 221,709 foreign workers involved in human health and social work activities, mostly serving as full-time caregivers for elderly Taiwanese, 176,117 are from Indonesia, the figures showed.
With Taiwan’s population aging rapidly, demand for these caregivers is likely to grow, but Indonesia says that it will cut off the supply of such workers to the rest of the world in the next few years.
Agency of Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers head Nusron Wahi on Wednesday said that his nation would stop sending domestic workers to the Middle East starting this year as the first step in the pullback.
It will then gradually reduce the number of domestic workers sent to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Macau and other countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region, beginning in 2017, he said during an interview with Indonesian media Web site Liputan6.com.
Rather than sending domestic workers overseas, Indonesia plans to begin exporting trained and skilled workers, he said, adding that the Indonesian government is preparing to provide training programs.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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