FINANCIAL LITERACY Things
Indonesia’s newly-appointed secretary for migrant workers ‘ security, Abdul Kadir Karding, said on Oct 28 that he would cut down the amount of taxes and charges imposed on migrant staff arguing that these fees may be “excessive” and “exploitative”.
However, the Philippines is mulling establishing a pension fund for overseas staff to protect employees and their people against the dangers of old age, disability, illness, death and poverty.
Some organizations devoted to immigrant workers believe that governments also need to train their people financial education, the ability to manage income and expenses, and make informed decisions regarding income.
According to Rimas of Migrante Philippines,” they need to be able to decide how much of their wages should go to their families, how much should come to include their day-to-day needs worldwide, and how much should come into their savings account.”
” Unfortunately, we don’t have that kind of training programme here in the Philippines”.
Financial literacy for migrant workers is of utmost importance, according to Nasrikah Paidin, an advisor to the Indonesian Migrant Domestic Workers Association in Malaysia.
She has seen how some migrants send almost everything they make to their families without giving a damn about how much of it is spent.
” In our training, we tell the migrants that while they can give money to their family, they must also learn to say no”, she said.  ,
” They are sacrificing for their families but it shouldn’t be like that forever. Once their contract is up, they should aim to at least build a house and launch a business there.
Melinda Damayanti, 29, who is from the Indonesian city of Bandung, has been working as a factory operator at a multinational company in Shah Alam, where she is in charge of assembling turntables.
Melinda, who has worked in Malaysia for eight years, considers herself fortunate that she receives daily transportation to and from the factory and a hostel from her employers.
She earns about RM2, 800 monthly with overtime, with about RM1, 000 used for her personal expenses including food. She occasionally receives bonuses, and her business even offers insurance to all employees.