The Indonesian government has proposed that Taiwanese employers pay six types of costs when hiring migrant workers from the country to relieve the workers of most of the burden they are currently forced to bear, the Ministry of Labor said on Thursday.
The proposal is seen as a compromise after a meeting between the two sides. The ministry has rejected a previous proposal that Taiwanese employers pay 11 types of fees.
The six types of fees include roundtrip airfares, visas costs, labor brokerage fees, verification fees for employment contracts, and accommodation fees for the workers ahead of leaving Indonesia.
The costs per worker would total about NT$23,700, the ministry said, citing an estimate by the Indonesian government.
Other fees would be paid by the workers, including costs for passport processing, COVID-19 testing, health checks and criminal record certificates, Deputy Minister of Labor Wang An-pang (王安邦) said, adding that the Indonesian government also proposed to pay some of the placement costs.
The Indonesian Ministry of Manpower said in a statement that the proposed policy would protect migrant workers from excessive fees.
The Indonesian ministry would review the regulations and hold further discussions with relevant agencies and brokers, it said.
Taiwan and Indonesia have been at odds over a regulation Jakarta introduced in July last year that exempts certain migrant workers from placement fees and requires employers to pay the costs. The policy, which applies to Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, Hong Kong and 10 other countries, was initially to be implemented in January, but was postponed to July.
Indonesia initially said that it had reached a consensus with Taiwan on the issue, a claim that the Ministry of Labor denies, saying that Jakarta unilaterally drafted the policy.
The two sides have also been also at odds over Taiwan suspending the entry of Indonesian migrant workers from Dec. 4 last year, citing unreliable COVID-19 testing in the Southeast Asian nation.
The two sides later that month held a virtual meeting, but could not resolve the disputes. Two more meetings were canceled by the Indonesian government.
Thursday’s virtual meeting was attended by Ministry of Labor officials and Benny Rhamdani, head of the Agency for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers.
Wang said that employers previously paid two of the six types of fees proposed by the Indonesian side: contract verification fees and airfares.
The Ministry of Labor would focus on the four remaining fees in future discussions, Wang said.
Due to time constraints, it only raised questions on accommodation fees during the meeting, he added.
The ministry does not think this part of the proposal is reasonable, as Jakarta did not define a standard for the quality and duration of accommodation, he said.
Further details would be discussed through written communications, Wang said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS