Indonesia to prohibit overseas maids from 2017

[LedZeppelin]

Indonesia to prohibit overseas maids from 2017: official

2016/05/17 19:35:18

(CNA file photo)

Jakarta, Indonesia, May 16 (CNA) Indonesia will begin measures to prohibit Indonesian domestic helpers from going abroad to work from 2017, with the goal of a complete ban by 2019, an Indonesian official said Monday.

Soes Hindarno, director of placement and protection of Indonesian workers abroad under the Ministry of Manpower, told CNA that his government is aiming for zero domestic helpers overseas between 2017 and 2019.

He rebutted recent Indonesian and Taiwanese media reports that the Indonesian government has ceased allowing Indonesian domestic helpers to go abroad from May, with a complete ban to come into effect next year.

In the future, only workers with professional skills, such as factory workers and company employees, will be permitted to go to Taiwan or other countries, Hindarno said.

In response, Liu Chia-chun (劉佳鈞), director of the Workforce Development Agency under Taiwan's Ministry of Labor (MOL), said that his ministry will communicate with the Indonesian government over the issue.

He said Taiwan gives Indonesian migrant workers better benefits than other countries, so he believes the ban will not be applied to Taiwan.

Liu said his ministry will continue to improve labor conditions for migrant workers, recruit workers from other countries, and encourage local workers to work as caregivers by giving them employment incentives.

According to MOL statistics, there are currently over 230,000 Indonesian workers in Taiwan, 170,000 of whom are caregivers, accounting for 79 percent of all foreign caregivers in the country.

(By Jay Chou, Wu Hsin-yun and Christie Chen)