To that end, he said, the government was trying to create more jobs under a master plan aimed at accelerating and expanding economic development until 2025.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, moved by the frequent reports of violence befalling Indonesian migrant workers abroad, expressed the hope that no more Indonesians would be employed as domestic helpers overseas in the future.

"In the coming years. I think, there is no need for our brothers and sisters to become migrant workers, the less so if they are employed as domestic helpers," he said in his address to a consultation meeting of the national and regional tripartite cooperation institute here on Wednesday.

"As fellow Indonesian citizens, we will only allow our brothers or sisters to work abroad as professionals. But if they are to be employed as domestic helpers, we are determined to reduce their number from now on. And, God willing, now is the time to stop sending domestic helpers abroad by creating more jobs at home," he said.

To that end, he said, the government was trying to create more jobs under a master plan aimed at accelerating and expanding economic development until 2025.

Under the master plan, Indonesia would be divided into six economic corridors, with each consisting of production centers and economic clusters according to their respective key commodities, he said.

"That`s why I am looking forward to making the master plan a success so our brothers can work in their own country and will no longer seek overseas employment as domestic helpers," he said.

The dispatch of Indonesian migrant workers has drawn attention from the State Audit Board (BPK). In response, the President has formed a special team to evaluate the dispatch of Indonesian migrant workers abroad.

The President said the team had three months to give him recommendations on countries which did not treat fairly or protect Indonesian migrant workers.

He said the government would not hesitate to impose a moratorium on the dispatch of migrant workers to the countries which had treated Indonesian migrant workers inhumanly.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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