Chairman of political party Gerindra, Prabowo Subianto, has warned labourers of the dangers of allowing more foreign workers into Indonesia during his speech on International Workers’ Day.
He made his speech after receiving the endorsement of the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation (KSPI) to help make his presidential candidacy official.
“There are no people in the world that want to open their doors to foreigners like us,” Prabowo said during his speech as quoted by CNN Indonesia.
“The United States wants to make a wall to keep them out. In Australia people who try to enter are discharged to remote islands, in Malaysia, our own illegal migrant workers are whipped,” he said.
Prabowo’s comment about “opening their doors to foreigners like us” was in reference to a new presidential regulation (Perpres) on the use of foreign workers, signed by Jokowi last month, that aims to ease some of the challenges faced by companies looking to use workers from outside Indonesia.
Prabowo has been working hard to consolidate the political coalition needed to make his candidacy official, as Indonesia’s 2017 Elections Law requires any presidential candidate to meet a threshold requirement of being backed by a political party or coalition of political parties that have at least 20 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives or 25 percent of the popular vote in the previous election.
This is currently still a struggle for Prabowo, as Gerindra currently only holds 13 percent of the seats in Parliament and only received 11.81 percent of the popular vote in the last national election.
Source: Coconuts
Photo courtesy of tribunnews.com