Being increasingly discussed lately, the government considers that TKA licenses need to be

simplified to increase investment, while other parties view these facilities as seemingly not pro-
domestic workers.

The existence of government regulations regarding the use of foreign labor has indeed generated
much controversy among the public. The signing of the Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number
20 of 2018 concerning the use of Foreign Workers (TKA) by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi)
some time ago has led to pros and cons in the community. Detik.com

In my opinion this will make more and more chaos between Indonesian Workers and Foreign
Workers. The president cannot make a regulation as well as he thinks without thinking that there
are still many human resources in Indonesia, only they need to get some training so they can
compete with the foreign workers.

The negative impact of the influx of foreign workers that was most felt was the narrowing of
employment opportunities in the country. This is because the number of workers will increase. If it
is not balanced with an increase in business in the country, the employment will be narrower.

The arrival of foreign workers in Indonesia is a threat to local workers, especially those who have
no skills at all. Then the local workforce will not be able to compete with foreign workers. The
presence of foreign workers if it is not balanced with the addition of jobs will only cause a lot of
unemployment.

"In order to compete, there must be vocational training, skill development for local workers. For
vocational education, the most important thing is in vocational education," Anton said.
Kompas.com

This regulation is good for opening investment so that foreign investors, foreign workers do not
hesitate to invest here because the meaning is this, the philosophy of this presidential regulation
only wants to simplify the procedure for it, not to ease the requirements, "Anton said.
Kompas.com, Monday (04/30/2018).

According to him, it is a good thing if the investors who had arranged investment permits for
several months could be just a few days. But in my opinion this will have an impact on local
workers and will cause a lot of unemployment.

Hanif said, the decision of President Jokowi to issue the presidential regulation was merely to
simplify licensing in Indonesia which was complicated and often cost high and cause illegal
levies. Kompas.com

Now Indonesia is flooded with foreign workers, especially those from China. Of the total foreign
workers in Indonesia at the end of 2017, those from China were recorded at 24,800. The number
of foreign workers from China in Indonesia is still below the number of migrant workers who
work in a number of places in China. Hanif said, there were around 20,000 migrant workers
working in Macau, more than 150,000 migrant workers in Hong Kong, and 200,000 migrant
workers in Taiwan. Kompas.com

So far, investors have had difficulty in managing TKA permits. In fact, investors became victims
of illegal levies and extortion by officers who took advantage of the length of the process of
arranging permits for foreign workers.

The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) noted that there was a trajectory of Chinese investment
in Indonesia. In 2016, China was ranked 3rd as the biggest investor with an investment of USD
2.665 million or 9% of total investment in Indonesia. Up from 2015 of USD 628 million or 2% of
total foreign investment in Indonesia. Detik.com

This situation will never change as long as the Ministry of Manpower does not change its
approach to managing foreign workers.

The presence of foreign workers in Indonesia is indeed able to encourage Indonesian human
resources to compete in a healthy manner. Of course this is good for the process of developing
domestic human resources. However, how do you compete if the quality, competence, and
education of the people are not supported or prepared consistently. Of course this will be an
obstacle for local workers if they do not have expertise and will be replaced by foreign workers
who will make the Indonesian unemployment rate increase.