The Indonesian government is to require employers of Indonesian migrant workers and Indonesian local governments to pay part of their placement fees starting on July 15, rather than yesterday as previously announced.
The new policy, aimed at easing the financial burden on Indonesian migrant workers, would remove the requirement for 11 types of worker, including domestic helpers and construction workers, to pay a placement fee and have the overseas employer and local government pay it instead.
The new regulations have been postponed because most Indonesian local governments have yet to allocate a budget for the training and placement fees they would be responsible for, Indonesian National Board for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Overseas Workers head Benny Rhamdani said.
Of the 34 provinces in Indonesia, only the local government in East Java has a budget to cover the costs associated with training, certificates and fees, Rhamdani said at a news conference yesterday.
Efforts continue to enlist the cooperation of local governments, he said, and meetings with the authorities in Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong are also being scheduled to discuss the new regulations.
Rhamdani pledged to resign if the policy could not be implemented because of funding issues, as he does not want Indonesian migrant workers to continue to be burdened by placement fees.
The policy, first announced in July last year, requires the employer of an Indonesian migrant worker to cover the costs of a passport, a return flight, a work visa, a medical checkup, and transportation and accommodation in the destination nation.
At present, some employers cover the air fare and fees related to verifying the contract signed between them and the migrant worker, the Ministry of Labor said.
The new regulations are to be applied to 14 nations that import workers from Indonesia.
The ministry yesterday said that the nation’s representative office in Indonesia would continue to discuss the policy with the Indonesian government to ensure that the rights of Taiwanese employers are fully protected.
Based on experience, Taipei and Jakarta would only sign a memorandum of understanding on the new regulations once a consensus has been reached, Workforce Management Division Director Hsueh Chien-chung (薛鑑忠) said.
Hsueh could not confirm what issues the ministry would need to discuss or how the rights of Taiwanese employers might be affected by the proposed policy.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS