By: Abdus Salam *
The government has stated a high commitment to protect Indonesian workers (TKI) or now called Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) who work abroad. The protection even started from recruitment until TKI returned to their homeland. Even the problems of TKI have now been handled jointly by several agencies. The Ministry of Manpower continues to boost the ability of Indonesian labor migrants to be ready to work abroad with local language skills and good work skills. While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to ensure a decent life for migrant workers abroad.
In the past few months the Ministry of Manpower and the Police continued to vigorously carry out sudden inspections and raids on illegal TKI shelter, especially in the Jabodetabek area. The case of the death of migrant workers abroad is one of the effects of the existence of illegal lane departure. TKI’s with illegal status were not recorded in BNP2TKI so they were not monitored. For this reason, anyone who works abroad must go through an official process as stipulated in the Rules of Labor. The Government is committed to implementing Law Number 18 of 2017 concerning the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) on October 25, 2017.
This law is a revision of Law 39/2004 concerning the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers Abroad which has little regulation on the protection of Indonesian migrant workers, but more about the placement of Indonesian migrant workers. The initiator of the revision of the Law is President Joko Widodo as a form of commitment to protect Indonesian migrant workers. It is said that a number of differences in Law 8/2017 compared to the previous Law are, first, the decentralization of the protection of Indonesian migrant workers. Local governments are required to play a major role in managing and protecting migrant workers since recruitment. It was manifested by the construction of one-stop services for TKI services in all districts and cities, especially in the pockets of Indonesian migrant workers.
In 2016 and 2017 the Government has built 11 one-stop service offices in the enclaves of Indonesian migrant workers such as in Mataman, East Lombok (West Nusa Tenggara), Indaramayu (West Java) and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). In addition, the Government also built Productive Migrant Villages (Desmigratif). One important element in this desmigrative program is that anyone who wants to work abroad must be registered and processed in the local village.
The authority of this village as stipulated in Article 42 of Law 18/2017, namely, receiving and providing information on migration to the community, verifies data and records of prospective Indonesian migrant workers. As well as facilitating the fulfillment of the population administration requirements of prospective Indonesian migrant workers, monitoring the departure and return of Indonesian migrant workers. Including, empowering prospective migrant workers, migrant workers, and family members.
In the Law, it is arranged in full regarding the procedure for issuing placement company permits and reporting the results of evaluating the company’s performance in stages and periodically to the minister, providing assistance posts, return and departure services, providing and facilitating vocational training for prospective migrant workers whose budget from the education function , regulating, fostering, implementing, and supervising the placement of migrant workers, to form an integrated one-stop service for the placement and protection of Indonesian migrant workers.
The new Law No.18 of 2017 provides a large role for labor attaches (Atnaker) in TKI placement countries. This is as stipulated in Article 32, which states, the central government can stop and / or prohibit the placement of Indonesian Migrant Workers or TKI for certain countries or certain positions abroad with consideration, security, protection of human rights, equal distribution of employment opportunities; and / or, the interests of the availability of labor in accordance with national needs.
All that is regulated in the Act, has been realized by the Government since the period of President Jokowi to better protect Indonesian migrant workers who work abroad. Even in the effort to protect Indonesian migrant workers, President Jokowi at a meeting in the state palace with leaders of countries in the world, always discussed the protection of migrant workers who work in the country. Like when President Joko Widodo asked the government of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to protect Indonesian migrant workers.
President Joko Widodo has been working hard to protect Indonesian migrant workers who work abroad. Even if there are cases of deaths of migrant workers and the death penalty for migrant workers abroad, they usually come from illegal TKIs. Protection of illegal TKIs is the full authority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through existing diplomats. However, illegal TKIs are still Indonesian citizens who must be protected. Efforts to rescue illegal TKI from the death penalty by diplomats were not entirely successful. Nevertheless, it is necessary to know that the success ratio of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has carried out the rescue diplomacy of illegal TKI from other countries’ penalties reaching 90% since the era of President Joko Widodo, and continues to be consistent.
*) The author is an International Relations Student at Jember State University
