PerPres No 20 Tahun 2018 Penggunaan TKA

[R Cameron]

To me facilitate would mean you have to attend, indeed with no specific level of achievement. Like always things are up to interpretation

This means nothing for how Indonesian authorities will interpret it, but I was curious what American courts say "facilitate" means, I found this: http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/F/Facilitate.aspx

"The word facilitate means ... to make easy or less difficult."

"(F)acilitating includes helping to bring about and making easier or more probable."

 

[harryopal1]

It would be ironic if any of the listed complaints about this language testing were posted by Australians. Back in the not so distant days of the White Australia policy and then into the period where we still had those policies but didn't want to be seen as racist any non white applicant would be given a language test. And then the applicant could be told, "Sorry, you failed the test." The language used for the test was Gaelic.

 

[Bad_azz]

According to my hubby, tonight's news just reported that Istana (presidential palace?) stated that the statements in the press saying foreign workers must learn Indonesian is BS.

 

[Supir Angkot]

^Your hubby is correct.

Indonesia's Manpower Ministry spokesman Sahat Sinurat clarified that there is no language requirement for expatriate workers in the country as reported by The New York Times.

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/s...port-on-language-criteria-for-foreign-workers
https://news.detik.com/berita/d-4084766/istana-tepis-soal-tka-wajib-berbahasa-indonesia

 

[R Cameron]

^Your hubby is correct.

Indonesia's Manpower Ministry spokesman Sahat Sinurat clarified that there is no language requirement for expatriate workers in the country as reported by The New York Times.

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/s...port-on-language-criteria-for-foreign-workers
https://news.detik.com/berita/d-4084766/istana-tepis-soal-tka-wajib-berbahasa-indonesia

Very interesting. I guess "memfasilitasi" is indeed being interpreted close to the USA/English interpretation of "facilitate". In that Detik article, "Yang ada adalah perusahaan yang mempekerjakan TKA harus menyediakan fasilitas atau pelatihan atau semacam diklat di perusahaan itu agar TKA itu bisa belajar, kalau mau belajar"

The company has to make available language training for TKA who want to study.

 

[mcpeacock]

the Jakarta post is now also on this
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/...nt-for-foreign-workers-state-palace-says.html
"Presidential spokesman Johan Budi Sapto Prabowo has said that there is no language requirement for foreign workers as Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 20/2018 on foreign workers only requires employers to provide their foreign workers with Indonesian language training."

and then the article concludes with this:
"“Under the prepared regulation, only those who stay for six months or longer are required to be able to speak the Indonesian language,” Budiman said as reported by kompas.com. "

 

[Mas Mana]

The problem with the NYT article is that it only interprets Perpres 20/2018, without any regards to other language legislation which already exists. So they might get hung up on that "facilitate language learning" thing there.

If compared to language legislation, Perpres 20/2018 only echoes the idea behind Pasal 33 (2) of UU 24/2009 which has basically said the same thing for 9 years now:

UU 24/2009, Pasal 33
"(1) Bahasa Indonesia wajib digunakan dalam komunikasi resmi di lingkungan kerja pemerintah dan swasta.
(2) Pegawai di lingkungan kerja lembaga pemerintah dan swasta sebagaimana dimaksud pada ayat (1) yang belum mampu berbahasa Indonesia wajib mengikuti atau diikutsertakan dalam pembelajaran untuk meraih kemampuan berbahasa Indonesia."

Perpres 20/2018, Pasal 26
"(1) Setiap Pemberi Kerja TKA wajib:
a. menunjuk tenaga kerja Indonesia sebagai Tenaga Kerja Pendamping;
b. melaksanakan pendidikan dan pelatihan bagi tenaga kerja Indonesia sesuai dengan kualifikasi jabatan yang diduduki oleh TKA; dan
c. memfasilitasi pendidikan dan pelatihan Bahasa Indonesia kepada TKA.
(2) Ketentuan sebagaimana dimaksud pada ayat (1) huruf a tidak berlaku bagi TKA yang menduduki jabatan direksi dan/atau komisaris."

Now Perpres 20/2018 will need another ministerial regulation below it to implement this. Does not exist yet, so we do not know what will be in there.

But looking at valid language legislation and its lower regulations for Pasal 33 quoted above, we could make an educated guess what MIGHT POSSIBLY come up in that new Permenaker Tata Cara Penggunaan TKA if this parallel development continues. it might be something similar to PP 57/2014 Pasal 20 then:

PP 57/2014, Pasal 20 (implementing UU 24/2009 Pasal 33 above)
"(1) Warga negara asing yang akan bekerja dan/atau mengikuti pendidikan di Indonesia atau akan menjadi warga negara Indonesia harus memiliki kemampuan berbahasa Indonesia sesuai dengan standar kemahiran berbahasa Indonesia yang dipersyaratkan.
(2) Warga negara asing yang belum memenuhi standar kemahiran berbahasa Indonesia sebagaimana dimaksud pada ayat (1) harus mengikuti atau diikutsertakan dalam pembelajaran untuk meraih kemampuan berbahasa Indonesia.
(3) Standar kemahiran berbahasa Indonesia bagi warga negara asing sebagaimana dimaksud pada ayat (1) dikembangkan oleh Badan dan ditetapkan oleh Menteri."

So if a future Permenaker Tata Cara Penggunaan TKA might say something about "standards of language proficiency" similar to PP 57/2014, this could mean a testing requirement instead of just a language learning requirement as understood by the NYT article.

Those standards and the testing procedure have already been set in Permendikbud 70/2016, so the testing system exists and would be ready to go. But we do not know yet if this parallel development between language legislation and TKA rules will continue or not.

Speculating on this just based on the wording of Pasal 26 of Perpres 20/2018 while ignoring the rest like the NYT article does seems a bit too shallow to me here.

 

[snpark]

Just as a matter of respect and professionalism, every expat should at least attempt to learn the language (and customs / culture etc) of the country he is working and living in.

I do not profess to be fluent, far from it, but I get by and my local amigos all seem to agree my standard is above average

However, I know some expats who have been here a loooooooot longer than me and still do not speak anything and almost REFUSE to learn it - those old school types, you know the ones. Probably in EP. lol

I am still new, only been here 10 years so far, but most of my day I am surrounded by locals so probably easier to pick up anyway. At least I know when I get in a taxi, it is always "where are you from, how long you been here, so you speak Bahasa, are you married (why not) and did you have your lunch yet"

Plus I always just say "sedikit aja" when asked if I can speak Bahasa - better to pretend to be stupid and listen gleefully as everyone gossips about me thinking I cannot understand!