The Human Cost
There's nothing wrong with the plan to increase foreign exchange from Indonesian migrant workers. But it's a big mistake to leave labor scandals unresolved.
October 15, 2002
The US State Department recently described Indonesia as tending to allow or even encourage trafficking in persons for their labor and for sexual exploitation. Everybody knows that the lucrative business is capable of boosting state foreign exchange revenue. In the 1999-2001 period, this sector earned foreign exchange worth US$3.1 billion. Its target for 2005 reaches US$5 billion (or Rp45 trillion at the exchange rate of Rp9,000 to US$1).
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