Indonesia to open labor market to ASEAN members

By Veronica Uy
INQ7.net





INDONESIA is set to open its labor market fully to workers from member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as required by the World Trade Organization (WTO), the labor department said in a statement released on Thursday.

In a report reaching his office, acting Labor Secretary Danilo Cruz said Indonesia would open its doors to job seekers from ASEAN and non-ASEAN countries in 2006 and 2008, respectively.

ASEAN is composed of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Quoting Indonesian Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris, the report said the Indonesian government was also preparing to deploy its own workers abroad.

"Indonesia is planning to establish a national certification agency for local workers to equip them with adequate skills and to provide them with certificates, which will allow their employment overseas," the report said.

Records at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed that last year, a total of 1,744 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were deployed in Indonesia, most of them in professional and technical-related jobs.

Cruz said more OFWs were expected to be employed in Indonesia when it starts opening its doors to foreign workers next year.

Cruz warned workers however against unscrupulous individuals and groups who may take advantage of the opening of the Indonesian labor market and offer non-existent jobs to exact money from potential victims. He urged these workers to verify with the POEA and the labor department whether these jobs were legitimate.


from http://www.inq7.net/globalnation/sec_new/2005/apr/07-01.htm