Jakarta – Activists dismissed the government's claim of having achieved "success" in taking home thousands of migrant workers who were experiencing problems abroad.

They said that protecting and demanding those workers rights could be considered an achievement, but taking them home would not be considered so.

"Taking them home is not an achievement because its only a part of the government's obligation," Anis Hidayah from the Migrant Care organization told The Jakarta Post. She said the government should consider bigger problems that needed solving, such as the deaths of migrant workers overseas and the delayed ratification of the conventions on basic migrant workers' rights.

"Also, they should ensure whether the ones who returned to the country have resolved their problems in the countries where they worked," Anis said.

Many migrant worker problems involved violence or unpaid salaries, which are hard to resolve once workers have arrived back in Indonesia, she said. "Sometimes taking those workers home can result in hampering case settlement," Anis said.

There are currently more than 6 million migrant workers, including illegal ones, living overseas. They are estimated to contribute around Rp 6 trillion (US$6.4 billion) to the country's economy each year, national portal website www.indonesia.go.id claimed.

Last month, the Foreign Ministry claimed that since October last year it had succeeded in taking home 2,116 migrant workers from countries such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The repatriation had been part of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Cabinet's 100-day program.

According to Teuku Faizasyah, the ministry's spokesman, the repatriation process had not been easy. "There were many workers who had problems in their work places and approached the country's representative offices. We have eased the burden for those offices," he said.

Teuku said that the ministry had employed several strategies and efforts to take back workers, such as booking an airplane previously used to fly passengers undertaking the haj in November last year to take workers back on its way home.

"We always try to take (migrant workers) who are in trouble back home, but not in such great quantities," he said.

Teuku said his office also bailed out workers who were in prison and processed the payment of workers who were deprived of salaries while providing shelter for those workers in representative offices.

The return of the last batch, consisting of 340 workers in need of aid and other Indonesians living overseas, in January was said to be a noted event, with Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa attending the occasion at the Soekarno Hatta International Airport.

Other figures, such as the women's empowerment and child protection minister, the manpower and transmigration minister and head of the Indonesian Labor Placement and Protection Agency (BNP2TKI), Jumhur Hidayat.

Sri Palupi from the Institute of Ecosoc Rights said that the government should improve the country's system to prevent poverty and provide more work for its people if it wants to prevent more migrant worker issues.

"They should also increase the quality of the country's human resources (for overseas)," she said. (dis)