Designing the business plan has been done in concert with promoting the mobile application among the regional apparatus, corporations, and organizationsBandung (ANTARA) - West Java is committed to protecting migrant workers native to the province though the pandemic has led to a fall in the number of outbound workers to 15 thousand, an official has said.
"The annual average of West Java migrant worker departures is around 57 thousand workers, but the number fell to 15 thousand workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020," West Java Manpower and Transmigration Office head Rachmat Taufik Garsadi noted in Bandung on Tuesday.
The new mobile-based West Java migrant service center application, launched by the provincial authorities on Tuesday, can help stakeholders provide and synergize the services needed by migrant workers, he informed.
Under Law No. 18 of 2017 and West Java Province Regulation No. 2 of 2021, the province is obligated to protect migrant workers through the establishment of a one-stop migrant workers service, which has been realized through the development of the mobile application, he said.
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The authorities have conceived a business plan and process for the migrant service center application along with other plans, including application promotion, which will be followed accordingly, the office head added.
"Designing the business plan has been done in concert with promoting the mobile application among the regional apparatus, corporations, and organizations," Garsadi said.
Meanwhile, Governor Ridwan Kamil said that as West Java is among the top three provinces sending Indonesian migrant workers overseas, the authorities need to take measures to tackle issues that are often faced by migrant workers.
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"Several issues often faced by migrant workers are slavery, human trafficking, migrant workers who are instead imprisoned and sentenced to death, as well as physical, mental, and sexual violence threats faced by domestic workers," the governor elaborated.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the number of vulnerable migrant workers, and unintegrated migrant workers' information and data systems can potentially harm West Java migrant workers, he added.
Besides enhancing job opportunities and jobseekers' competitiveness, labor data management integrated under the migrant service center application is also expected to help West Java workers, he said.
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Translator: Ajat Sudrajat, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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