Job Fair In Bekasi Chaos, House Of Representatives Commission IX: Evidence Of Urgent People's Needs For Work

JAKARTA - Member of Commission IX DPR RI Nurhadi responded to the chaos that occurred at the Job Fair event 'Bekasi Pasti Kerja' organized by the Bekasi Regency Manpower Office in Cikarang, West Java. He considered that the incident proved that the people's need for work was very urgent.

"This incident reflects how urgent the community's need for work is, as well as the bad technical mechanisms implemented by the committee," said Nurhadi, Monday, June 2.

Nurhadi regretted the chaos just because he was fighting over the QR code scanner which contained a list of job vacancies opening companies. According to him, this also shows managerial unpreparedness in dealing with high public interest in access to work.

"Supposedly, anticipation of a surge in visitors, management of participant flow, distribution of digital information, and breaking of event locations should have become the minimum standard in organizing large-scale job fairs. Especially in the midst of a storm of layoffs like this," he continued.

As is known, the Job Fair event organized by the Bekasi Regency Government at the President University Convention Center Building, Jababeka, Tuesday, May 27, exploded and ended in chaos. There are only 3,000 potential vacancies.

Regarding the chaos that occurred, the Ministry of Manpower (Kemnaker) denied the large number of job seekers in Bekasi as a portrait of the difficulty of finding work. The Ministry of Manpower considers this to be more about the high public interest in job vacancies.

Responding to this, Nurhadi assessed that the Regional Government (Pemda) should also realize that job fair is not just an annual ceremonial event, but a representation of a big problem called structural unemployment.

Therefore, Nurhadi said that his approach could not only be about administrative or event-based, but needed to be seen as part of a sustainable strategy in regional labor development.

"More than 25,000 job seekers packed one location, incident pushed each other until some fainted as evidence that the system and event planning were not yet sensitive to reality in the field," explained Nurhadi.

In the context of Bekasi Regency, which is one of the largest industrial areas in Southeast Asia, Nurhadi also assessed that the local government needs to emphasize the responsibility of companies operating in its territory.

According to Nurhadi, companies that occupy industrial estates in Bekasi and receive incentives, conveniences, and benefits from existence in this area must be encouraged to contribute significantly to opening and absorbing local workers.

"Companies operating in the Bekasi industrial area should not only enjoy facilities, but also must absorb labor from the surrounding community," said the East Java VI electoral district legislator.

"The government must ensure that there are binding regulations and encourage active involvement in the industrial sector in reducing unemployment," continued Nurhadi.

Furthermore, the DPR member who sits in the labor commission underlined the importance of short-term solutions related to the problem of the current boom of job seekers. One of them, said Nurhadi, is by holding job fair decentralized in various sub-districts or industrial zones.

"The government can also strengthen online platforms that allow job seekers to access vacancies information without having to be physically crammed into them," he urged.

On the other hand, Nurhadi asked the Government to evaluate the availability and suitability of employment opportunities with job seekers' skills profiles. If the mismatch is too high, he said the Government needs to increase vocational training and career guidance.

"Including synergy with the business world, it must be emphasized even more. We cannot allow thousands of residents to continue to queue just to scan QR," said Nurhadi.

Nurhadi asked the Government to come with a more humane, fair and data-based plan. "Work seekers should not be victims of bad management," said Nurhadi.

According to him, this is important considering that the storm phenomenon of layoffs (PHK) is correlated with the large public interest in access to jobs. Including, said Nurhadi, through events such as job fair.

"With the high unemployment rate and social unrest starting to appear in the form of chaos like this, work fair in the future should no longer be a symbol of collective panic," he said.

"Job fair must be a real solution to a decent, safe, and dignified job. Not just ceremonial," concluded Nurhadi.