14 May 2007
TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Jumhur Hidayat, Head of National Agency for Indonesian Overseas Workers Placement and Protection (BNP2TKI), has estimated that there are around 1,300 Indonesian overseas workers (TKIs) working in Iraq.
They entered this war-ravaged country via Jordan and Syria without passing through TKI service agents.
“Most of them work as housemaids. But we don't know the exact number because they came illegally,” said Jumhur when contacted by Tempo last weekend.
He went on to say that in Indonesia there are quite a lot of employment agents which search for people to work in Jordan.
Jumhur confirmed that almost all agents were illegal and did not have permits from the government.
“Some have already been caught by us,” he said.
According to him, most of Indonesian workers in Iraq are in safe areas but there is the possibility that some of them could be working in conflict areas.
In addition, since the United States invasion, the conflict is not yet over.
“This is the problem, we don't know their whereabouts,” said Jumhur.
The government has already written to the Jordanian government asking that work permits not be granted easily to Indonesian workers.
The government has also asked Jordan to verify every TKI who works there.
As for Syria, Jumhur said the government has not yet sent any letter.
The reason for this is that is Syria will soon be an official country of TKI distribution.
Wahyu Susilo, an analyst of Migrant Car –a non-governmental organization that deals with migrant workers--asked the government to continue taking responsibility TKIs in Iraq
PRAMONO
