REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, GRESIK  -- In East Java Province, there were 3,460 foreign workers. As much as 40 percent of them were from China. They are recorded as having worked in industrial areas, such as Surabaya, Gresik Sidoarjo, Mojokerto and Pasuruan.

The East Java manpower, transmigration and population office has recorded 44 foreigners working without permits in the region. "There are 44 foreign workers having no permits because the working permit extensions are still being processed or applied for," said Sukardo of the East Java's manpower office (Kadisnakertransduk).

In the meantime, the government will take stern measures against foreign workers who fail to meet the country's working conditions and regulations, Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhammad Hanif Dakhiri warned earlier. "The government has worked hard to monitor companies that recruit foreign workers, but fail to meet the requirements stipulated in the regulation," Dakhiri said, on the sidelines of the 16th Asia Pacific regional meeting of the International Labor Organization in Bali, recently.

Companies that recruited foreign workers must adhere to the country's regulation on workers, Dakhiri said.

Meanwhile, Petrochemical company Petrokimia Gresik plans to check the status of foreign workers that the company hires, following concerns by the manpower office over possible illegal workers in East Java. "Since the beginning, Petrokimia Gresik has made sure that it hires legal workers. But in the process, if there are illegal workers, we have not checked it. Therefore, we will see," Petrokimia Gresik spokesman Yusuf Wibisono said here on Saturday.

The company has been selective in hiring foreign workers, but if several workers happen to be illegal, the case will be processed in accordance with existing laws. "Several civilian projects are being operated by foreign workers periodically, so we don't use foreign workers all the time. Meaning, all workers working here are in accordance with contract agreements. But, if in the process, their contracts have expired and yet they stay, we don't know. So we need to recheck," he said.

Currently, 76 Chinese employees work in a state owned fertilizer company in Gresik.

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