Whoever believes that all foreign workers are evil is definitely wrong. Foreign workers live among us, pray with us in our mosques, live peacefully with their families as our neighbors, and work for us. They are loyal and appreciative, and they always pray to Allah for the Kingdom’s safety, prosperity and well-being.
In lieu of that, we thank them and appreciate what they have been doing for us. This has been expressed at the highest level of Saudi leadership. I am referring here to the special thanks expressed to expatriates by Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman who, while talking at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce, thanked them profusely for their valuable contribution to the Kingdom’s development.
When labor problems erupted in Kuwait last week, some people in the Kingdom and other Gulf states expressed concerns about foreign workers. Youssef Al-Kuwaileet, the famous Saudi writer, described them in an article in Al-Riyadh newspaper as “time bombs” waiting to explode any time. Although I support this view, I feel this could only happen if we fail to give them their rights and if we fail to respect them. Thanks to Allah, the Kingdom faces no shortage in this regard.
However, there are some exceptions and violations, which manifest mainly in the delay of paying salaries; this is particularly the case with some cleaning and maintenance companies. In addition, salaries paid by some of these companies are very low. In order to rectify this, the concerned authorities should seriously and sternly step in to put an end to this problem.
Minimum monthly wages should be no less than SR750 ($200) and salaries should not be delayed later than the first week of the following month, as foreign workers have commitments here and in home countries.
If the Ministry of Labor followed up on companies that violate rules by exposing them in the media and severely punishing them, then these violations would definitely end. There is no doubt that such practices are harmful to us as Muslims whose religion does not approve of injustices and to the reputation of our country of which we are proud, especially in the realm of human rights codified by Islam.
I reiterate a proposal I made earlier and to which I received a letter from Turki Al-Sudairi, chairman of the Human Rights Commission, affirming that the suggestion was under study. The essence of the proposal was to set up a committee comprising the friends of expatriates that would follow up and report violations and maintain cordial relations with foreign workers, regardless of race or religion. This would prevent fires before they break out.
