Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Labor exporters have rejected a revision to a bill that intends to empower the National Agency for Overseas Labor Placement and Protection (BNP2TKI) and ensure full protection for migrant workers at all stages of their employment.
Chairman of the Indonesian Employment Association for Asia Pacific (Ajaspac) Ismail said the bill, which was aimed at revising the 2004 Overseas Labor Placement and Protection Law, could worsen the current conflict between BNP2TKI and the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, and between the agency and labor exporters.
"The agency will become a 'superbody' because the bill takes a large amount of authority away from the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry and gives it to the agency. The House of Representatives apparently has no vision in revising the law," he told The Jakarta Post here on Wednesday.
The bill grants full authority to the BNP2TKI to regulate labor export and protection, issue and revoke export licenses, supervise labor export and impose harsher sanctions against stake holders breaching the regulations. The bill also allows the agency to supply workers to foreign governments and private sectors.
The agency has the authority to impose administrative sanctions, including suspending and revoking operating permits from labor exporters that break the law.
The current law stipulates a power-sharing arrangement between the ministry and the agency in dealing with labor export matters. The arrangement has been marred by a prolonged dispute.
The government and the House have since been asked to revise the law because of the prevalence of abuse faced by migrant workers from the time they are recruited in their home villages, during their employment overseas and on their arrival back home.
Hundreds of migrant workers die or are killed each year after facing abuse in the work place. At present, more than 200 migrant workers are on death row in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia for their alleged involvement in major crimes, including murder and drug-related cases.
The deputy chairman of the House legislative committee, Ida Fauziah, said the committee was still seeking input from relevant stakeholders to finalize the draft proposed by House Commission IX on Labor, Health and Social Affairs.
"It is still open for change and relevant stakeholders should give their input on how the law should be reviewed," she said.
She added that a final draft would be made this sitting period and deliberated after the Idul Fitri holiday, which falls on Sept. 10 and 11.
Lawmaker Surya Chandra Surapaty said all parties have their own draft and the House had not yet decided on what draft would be chosen for deliberation.
He said there was no urgency to revise the law because it had not been fully implemented since being passed six years ago.