REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Vice President M. Jusuf Kalla has indicated that Indonesia will no longer allow its nationals to work as housemaids overseas.

"We plan to stop sending migrant workers to work as housemaids abroad, starting late 2018," Kalla said here on Wednesday (6/5).

However, the sending of migrant workers for jobs in the formal sector will continue and even be encouraged, he added.

By 2018, Indonesia's economy will grow further, and there will be more job opportunities, Kalla affirmed.

"In the next two to three years, our economic growth rate is estimated to reach 7 percent, and there will be more job opportunities," he stated.

However, at present the sending of migrant workers to work in the informal sector as housemaids is still needed to reduce the current number of unemployed, Kalla explained.

Earlier, Manpower Minister M. Hanif Dhakiri had brought to light that there were several cases of violations, such as human trafficking activities, in the destination countries of Indonesian workers.

He stressed that Indonesia will stop sending migrant workers to 21 Middle Eastern countries. These include Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Egypt, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, South Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Jordan.

Moreover, the National Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) will find alternatives for housemaids who will be affected by the new policy to come into effect late 2018.

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