Taipei: The Indonesian Economic and Trade Office (IETO) to Taipei has issued a call to professional Indonesian migrant workers in Taiwan, urging them to register in an online system. This initiative aims to extend the benefits currently enjoyed by blue-collar Indonesian workers to their white-collar counterparts. According to Focus Taiwan, the IETO organized an event on Sunday to promote a "pilot program" launched on October 17. The program encourages white-collar workers to register with the Agency for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BP2MI). By doing so, these professional workers can access the same benefits as manual laborers, including social security coverage and customs duty exemptions of up to US$500 when sending or carrying goods back to Indonesia up to three times a year. The Law of the Republic of Indonesia on the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers, enacted in 2017, mandates that all migrant workers register in the BP2MI system. This registration enables the Indonesian governme nt to provide better assistance in cases of work-related accidents, health issues, or deaths. Until now, the government's focus has largely been on manual workers who "required more attention," as stated by Indonesia Deputy Representative Zulmartinof. Indonesia ranks third in the number of white-collar workers in Taiwan, following Malaysia and Japan. Should the pilot program demonstrate success, the Indonesian Ministry of Labor plans to implement similar initiatives in other countries. However, as of 5 p.m., only 19 out of 5,947 Indonesian professional workers in Taiwan had registered, according to IETO. Many of these white-collar workers have achieved "professional foreign worker" status after graduating from a Taiwanese university or graduate institution. They are employed in various sectors, including engineering, higher education, journalism, translation, and hospitality, as noted by IETO.
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