Indonesia’s Migrant Workers Protection Ministry is integrating its Golden Migrant Village program with the villages ministry’s Thematic Village scheme to make overseas job placement safer, cheaper, and better regulated.
The initiative was discussed by Migrant Workers Protection Minister Mukhtarudin and Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration Minister Yandri Susanto in Jakarta on Tuesday, focusing on improving the governance of migrant worker placement and protection starting at the village level.
"Official job placement must be easy, affordable, and safe. That is what we are working to deliver," Mukhtarudin said in a statement.
He said the government is prioritizing official placement channels to ensure migrant workers can access legal, affordable, and secure employment abroad, backed by stronger regulations now being prepared.
Mukhtarudin said the Golden Migrant Village program, set to be launched on International Migrants Day on Dec. 18, will be integrated with the Thematic Village scheme through cross-ministerial cooperation.
"The Golden Migrant Village program will be showcased jointly and further strengthened, including in empowering returning migrant workers," he said.
The Golden Migrant Village program aims to improve village-level governance of migrant worker placement and protection, while supporting economic empowerment for migrant workers and returning post-migrants. The Thematic Village scheme develops villages based on specific economic or social themes to strengthen local economies.
The integrated programs will also be linked to export-oriented village initiatives through a planned memorandum of understanding with the Trade Ministry to support economic empowerment for returning migrant workers.
Yandri said better management of migrant workers from villages is essential to ensure positive economic and social impacts when workers leave and when they return home as post-migrants.
"We want villages to feel positive effects, both when people go abroad and when they return," Yandri said.
He said many returning workers quickly spend their remittances due to limited local job opportunities, underscoring the need for sustainable, village-based economic empowerment.
Yandri invited Mukhtarudin to attend National Village Day on Jan. 15, 2026, in Boyolali, Central Java, to strengthen coordination on post-migrant employment challenges.
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Translator: Katriana, Martha Herlinawati Simanjuntak
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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