September 09, 2007	Sunday	Sha'aban 26, 1428

JAKARTA, Sept 8: Indonesia is seeking access to some 72 migrant workers who have been kept at US military camps in Iraq despite the expiry of their employment contracts, a report said on Saturday.

The cooks, technicians and cleaners served 17-month contracts in the camps but have been there for more than 20 months, the Jakarta Post reported citing a foreign ministry official.

Indonesian officials had been seeking access to the workers for more than three months through US embassies, Teguh Wardoyo, the foreign ministry’s director for the protection of Indonesian citizens abroad, told the daily.

The foreign ministry reportedly summoned on Friday the US ambassador to Indonesia, Cameron Hume, to address the issue, with another official sent to represent him.

US officials initially denied the workers were being kept beyond their contracts, “but after we showed our data, they said they wanted to help solve the problem”, Teguh was quoted as saying.

“In our conversation we demanded to be given access to our workers and that they are given their rights to vacations,” he said, adding that US officials had committed to resolve the issue.

The workers were sent to Iraq by a Jakarta company, North Sea Java Group, in January last year. Despite being promised two weeks of vacation time, they were not allowed to leave their camps.

“This is probably because the US military authorities are dependent on our workers and are afraid they won’t come back,” Teguh alleged.

Teguh also told the English-language daily that the North Sea Java Group was not registered with the manpower ministry in Indonesia, so he had asked police to investigate.

The foreign ministry spokesman was not immediately reachable for comment.

Indonesia sends thousands of workers, both legal and illegal, abroad each year, mainly to Malaysia and the Middle East.—AFP