Al-Badah said the committee is being sniped at, both from international and domestic quarters, and on occasions members have been threatened with physical attacks.

A verbal assault on the committee has been launched by a Shoura Council member, and Al-Badah believes that these ill-feelings are the result of people being ill-informed.

“I believe the member of the Shoura Council, who is accusing the National Recruitment Committee of interfering with the work of both the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Labor, is perhaps mistaking the committee for something else,” said Al-Badah.

Shoura member Waleed Al-Suiden had blasted the committee for overstepping its brief, by talking about policies, which are the purview of the ministries of interior and labor.

Al-Badah added: "There is indeed another similar committee whose work might be similar to ours and that panel is headed by Al-Suiden, which could be the reason of the misunderstanding."

Al-Badah said that part of the reason the NRC he chairs is the subject of many attacks recently is due to the fact there are no clear regulations set to facilitate the committee’s works.

Al-Badah neither confirmed nor denied local media reports that he had received death threats from people in the Philippines and Indonesia. The news reports said that Al-Badah claimed that apart from him, death threats were directed at his office workers overseas.

"I dont think this topic is important at the moment,” Al-Badah said when asked to confirm the papers' claims, adding, “What is important is those who don't want to accept Saudi rules and regulations regarding labor recruitment are not welcome to work here.”

On Wednesday, the Labor Ministry and the NRC stressed that recruitment from Indonesia is still closed and will remain so until further notice.

This statement nixed widespread rumors originating from Jakarta claiming an end to the recruitment ban on the country and that normal service would commence sometime next month.

Widespread rumors making rounds online and in some local Saudi newspaper circles were debunked by the authorities on Tuesday.

“We haven’t received any notification to that effect. The recruitment of laborers such as house cleaners and helpers from both the Philippines and Indonesia is still closed. Recruitment from many other countries is open,” Al-Badah told Arab News.

Al-Badah added that until ongoing issues between the two sides are resolved, the recruitment ban would remain in place. "There are ongoing negotiations with the Philippines, and these might last for many months. However, nothing has been finalized yet," said Al-Badah.