MAKKAH, 1 August 2005 — Indonesian maids again will be coming to Saudi Arabia after their government lifted its five-month recruitment ban on the Kingdom, Arab News has learned.
Saudi Arabian National Recruiting Committee (SANARCOM) Chairman Waleed Al-Suwaidan said maids would be arriving from the island nation next week. After his meeting with the Indonesian deputy minister of labor, Al-Suwaidan said an agreement was reached to settle the international dispute.
He said the meeting was cordial and that Indonesia’s deputy minister of labor had ordered all concerned authorities in Indonesia and its diplomatic missions here to ease employment procedures for domestics in the Kingdom.
According to the new agreement, housemaids and drivers will be entitled for a paid day off each week. The salaries are approximately SR600 for a housemaid and SR800 for a driver.
Al-Suwaidan also said that the Saudi Embassy in Jakarta was receiving some 500 passports daily, adding that the application procedures are unchanged. He also said that the Indonesian Ministry of Labor was presenting orientation programs for the maids before they leave for the Kingdom where they will receive two weeks of training.
Mohsin Al-Omairi of the National Recruiting Committee in Makkah said the new regulations ensure the protection of Indonesian labor rights. He invited Indonesian officials in the future to propose rule changes to the committee for study before enacting a recruitment ban.
He said the relationship between the Kingdom’s labor needs and the Indonesian labor market was mutually beneficial and that the national committee will work closely with Indonesian officials to preserve that association and to ensure the protection of both employee and employer rights.
Arab News learned that the new contractual agreement for employing a housemaid or driver runs for two years and consists of 16 categories. If an employer for whatever reason no longer wishes to keep the housemaid, he must pay her the equivalent of three-month’s salary in addition to a return ticket.
Some 550 employment agencies had asked Saudi authorities to intervene when Indonesia announced that some 30,000 housemaids would be banned as a result of a disagreement over recruitment policies.
