House Calls on Local Governments to Monitor Foreign Workers
20 December 2016 08:22 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The House of Representatives (DPR) Commission VI deputy chairman Muhammad Haikal expects local governments to monitor foreign workers influx in order to control job competition and local economy.
Muhammad Haikal said that local governments should monitor foreign workers from their entry to employment.
“Don’t let foreigners take advantage of it. It needs to be monitored by local governments. Foreign workers influx must receive special attention,” he said in Pekanbaru on Monday, December 19, 2016.
Haikal said that foreign workers have taken advantage of visa-free entry to Indonesia. He foresees a significant increase in the number of foreign workers in Indonesia.
Data from Manpower Ministry shows that an average of 70 foreign workers arrived in Indonesia annually. As of the first half of 2016, some 43,186 foreign workers have entered the country.
Many of the foreign workers will be interested in entering Riau Province, among others, home to Indonesia's largest oil and palm oil industry.
Riau provincial government will tighten monitoring on foreign workers influx, even though it is not its main concern at the moment.
“We will surely tighten [monitoring] on foreign workers influx, because Riau’s unemployment rate is still high, around 8%,” Riau Governor Aryadjuliandi Rachman.
Riau is currently developing three industrial areas in Dumai, Tanjung Buton, and Kuala Enok.
