JAKARTA - The government wants to change the old paradigm that views Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) as low-skilled labourers, such as domestic helpers abroad, said Minister for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (P2MI) Mukhtarudin.

Mukhtarudin said that the government is now focusing on sending migrant workers with medium to high-level skills, as reported by Kompas.

"So people think, in the past migrant workers were TKI, TKW, domestic helpers, this is the old paradigm. Now we are no longer like that. We emphasise quality more.

"Previously people sent TKI, TKW, ending up as domestic helpers. Not anymore. We will shift, starting from middle to high skill," he said at the Coordinating Ministry for Community Empowerment in Central Jakarta on Tuesday.

Mukhtarudin said opportunities for migrant workers are very broad, ranging from the aviation sector to technology, but they are not yet fully utilised by Indonesians.

He pointed out that there are 352,000 migrant worker positions available abroad, yet Indonesian workers currently fill only 19 per cent of them.

"There are those who become flight attendants, they are also migrant workers, such as those working at Qatar Airways and Saudi Airways.

“So it is actually wide. They can fill high-tech companies," he said.

The minister also emphasised that university graduates also have opportunities to pursue careers abroad.

"So now universities are involved. They have bachelor's degrees, diplomas.

“They are sent abroad, even to aviation companies. Training programmes have already started," he added.

The Golkar Party politician said many universities in Indonesia have launched migrant centres to prepare their students for work overseas.

"They are students educated with an orientation towards the foreign job market, so they are already middle-high skills," Mukhtarudin said.