BASED on a new law to be implemented this year, tourism-related businesses in Indonesia will have to consider a candidate’s competency certificate during recruitment, a change that several industry members are concerned about.
Speaking at a workshop yesterday, Indonesia’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism expert staff, who is also the ASEAN Tourism Professional Monitoring Committee chairman, I Gusti Putu Laksaguna, said: “The Tourism Law No. 10/2009 has stipulated that all tourism professionals must have competency certificates. So when a tourism company recruits employees, the candidates must be able to show them certificates according to their competence.
“If one applies to be a general manager (GM), it is not enough for the person to say he or she has been working as a GM for so many years anymore. He or she must be able to show a certificate of competence.”
Laksaguna said government regulation backing the new law, including the kind of sanctions to be meted out, is being finalised and will be implemented this year.
He expects this competency standard to prepare Indonesia for the ASEAN Economic Community, which aims to transform the region into a single market by 2015. ASEAN has agreed on a Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Tourism Professionals and an ASEAN Common Competency Standards Framework for Tourism Professionals.
However, National Tourism Professional Board chairman, Ade Suryanto, noted some reluctance in the industry to adopt the certification.
“What we need is a kind of pilot project for a hotel to see how the certification programme will impact their revenue,” he said.
Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association executive director Carla Parengkuan said: “There are many new hotels opening all over the country and therefore, demand for the middle and top management level staff is very high. As such, whoever can afford to pay high salaries will get staff.
“To make the certification work, we need the government, together with the industry associations, to set up a salary range for every competency standard.”
