Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government continues to make comprehensive improvements in the protection and placement of Indonesian migrant workers, Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah stated on Friday.

"We continue evaluating Indonesian migrant workers' placement process and protection from upstream to downstream, so we can obtain a comprehensive picture regarding how to improve the management of our migrant workers' placement and protection," she noted in a statement received in Jakarta.

Minister Fauziyah explained that the evaluation includes determining duties and responsibilities of central, provincial, municipal and district, and rural governments.

According to Fauziyah, the Manpower Ministry also conducts the evaluation with the objective of streamlining the administrative processes for migrant workers' registration and placement as well as further developing the SIAPKerja (Employment Information System and Service) application.

Furthermore, the minister remarked that the evaluation is instrumental in managing placement fees, improving the skills of migrant workers, enhancing protection for migrant workers, optimizing one-stop integrated services and public service malls, as well as expanding service locations to airports, ports, and cross-border offices.

The Ministry of Manpower is also using the evaluation to eradicate illegal levies and brokers, she added.

"Hence, the evaluation is focused on matters related to facilitating the placement process of Indonesian migrant workers and monitoring them," she noted.

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The minister also spoke of having revised Manpower Minister's Decree (Kepmenaker) No.291 of 2018 concerning guidelines for placing and protecting Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia through the One Channel Placement System (SPSK).

Fauziyah elaborated on the revision, saying that it is aimed at providing opportunities to all Indonesian migrant worker placement companies (P3MI) to participate in transferring migrant workers to Saudi Arabia through the SPSK.

The minister also revealed that she had revoked Kepmenaker No.294 of 2020 regarding the placement of Indonesian migrant workers in the era of the pandemic.

"We revoked the Kepmenaker No.294 because the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Therefore, we will return to using UU PPMI (Law on Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers) as the reference for managing the placement process of Indonesian migrant workers," she explained.

Fauziyah further noted that her ministry is consistently making efforts to expand and strengthen bilateral, regional, and multilateral cooperation, including with Middle Eastern countries, such as Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, to provide better protection for Indonesian migrant workers.

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Translator: Zubi M, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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