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.
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