THE ROLE OF INDONESIAN ECONOMIC AND TRADE OFFICE (IETO) IN THE PROTECTION OF INDONESIAN MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA (2014-2016)

Abstract

Indonesia has been a constant supplier of migrant workers to some countries such as Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Taiwan and Singapore. Since the moratorium of Indonesian migrant workers to the Middle East was implemented in 2015, the Indonesian migrant workers were mostly placed to Malaysia and Taiwan. Taiwan is one of the favorite places of migrant workers due to its minimum wage that considered higher than other receiving countries. In 2014, Taiwan is the second largest Indonesian migrant workers placement destination and Indonesia itself is the largest migrant workers supplier for Taiwan. This large number of Indonesian migrant workers in Taiwan has always been an important issue for Indonesian government due to the relation between Indonesia and Taiwan that obstructed with the existence of so-called the One China Policy. Taiwan ranks in 11th place in the list of country with highest Indonesian migrant workers cases in 2016. As the sole representative of the Government of Indonesia in Taiwan, Indonesian Economic and Trade Office (IETO) holds an important role in the protection of Indonesian migrant workers in Taiwan. This research will be focused on the role of IETO in the protection of Indonesian migrant workers in Taiwan. Time period of this research is started from 2014 to 2016.