- Title: INDONESIA: Indonesians wish for quick economic recovery to get jobs
- Date: 25th March 2009
- Summary: MATARAM, WEST NUSA TENGGARA, INDONESIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) MATRAM AIRPORT WOMEN SITTING OUTSIDE MATARAM AIRPORT INDONESIAN WORKERS QUEUING UP TO ENTER DEPARTURE HALL INDONESIAN WORKERS TALKING AMONG EACH OTHER (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) RAMADANI, INDONESIAN WORKER SAYING: "If we work hard, I think we can get about 1,000 ringgit a month at the very least." INDONESIAN W
- Embargoed: 9th April 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Indonesia
- Country: Indonesia
- Topics: Economic News,Employment
- Reuters ID: LVA5DOJ0UKXGE5SGDK708QJ31UAT
- Story Text: Indonesians dependent of working abroad are hoping for a quick global economic recovery to generate jobs for them in neighbouring countries.
Indonesia's economy might be vibrant despite the global economic downturn, but it still cannot produce enough jobs for its 230 million people.
That's why 4.3 million Indonesians find work outside the archipelago.
But that work is starting to dry up.
Officials estimate that already up to 15,000 migrant workers have lost jobs in Asian economies such as Malaysia, Japan and South Korea as factories close or downsize in the current economic slump.
More such job losses are predicted.
Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who wants to run for re-election this year, is aware that he has to create the jobs to win his post back.
Creating jobs will be his main agenda within the country and when he joins other world leaders for the G20 summit in London in early April.
That has pushed 25-year-old Ramadani to take his third two-year contract to work in an oil palm plantation in Malaysia.
Commodities such as palm oil might have fallen off record highs in 2008, but the plantations still require workers to harvest the fruit for processing into a myriad of items such as soap and cooking oil to bio-fuels.
Indonesia is also a major palm oil producer but Ramadani, from Mataram in Nusa Tenggara Barat near Bali, said his income is better in Malaysia.
"If we work hard, I think we can get about 1,000 ringgit a month at the very least," Ramadani told Reuters Television at the Mataram airport.
He and 125 other workers were getting ready to take a plane ride to Malaysia to start their new contracts.
But Ramadani is one of the luckier Indonesians.
Eru Suyono and his wife Ani Sriwahyuni have just returned from Japan after being retrenched from the Suzuki factory in Toyohashi in Aichi Prefecture, Honshu.
The 42-year-old admitted to being confused over the change of circumstances as the pair returned to their hometown in Malang, East Java, last February after working six years in Japan.
He now spends his time gardening at home while awaiting for good news from Japan.
"I did not know what I was going to do when I got here. I cleaned up my house, looked after my garden. I am planning to return to farming while waiting for a call from my agent in Japan," said Eru, who now plans to set up a flower farm but has not raised enough capital.
Indonesia's Manpower and Transmigration Department data showed there were about 44,000 thousand Indonesian migrant workers in Japan last year.
Neighbouring Malaysia itself said it might retrench up to 100,000 Indonesians if the recession continues this year.
Chairman of The National Board for the Placement and Protection of Indonesia's Overseas Workers, Jumhur Hidayat, said most of the workers retrenched are from high-technology industries due to evaporating demand worldwide in the wake of the economic crisis.
"The global economic crisis has affected workers in high-tech industries and automotive sectors, which have received the brunt of the downturn. We have had workers who returned home from abroad after their factories closed or their contracts ended," Hidayat said during a visit to the central Java city of Semarang.
He said the Indonesian government is hoping to mitigate the retrenchment of its workers by negotiating for them to be transferred to other sectors such as plantations or factories that might still face a shortage of workers.
But the situation is grim.
"We have heard from our officials and unions that between 10,000 and 15,000 have now returned home. We don't know if the figures will reach 50,000 or go to 100,000 by the year's end as it depends on the world economy.
If the economic rebound is slow there might be more jobless people. We hope the world leaders' can get together and overcome the crisis and restore confidence to ensure more jobs in the future," he said.
His hope, which is similar across Asia, will be carried by Yudhoyono to the upcoming G20 meeting in London on April 2. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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