RIYADH, 20 February 2005 — The Indonesian government is suspending placement of domestic servants in the Kingdom and four other Arab countries for a month while it makes changes in its job-placement regulations.
“Indonesia will suspend its overseas placement of domestic workers to the Kingdom, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan for a period of one month in order to streamline recruitment procedures in our country,” said Muhammad Sugiarto, labor attache at the Indonesian Embassy. He assured prospective employers that recruitment will resume on April 1.
Indonesia has deployed more than a million domestic workers in the five countries. The largest concentration of 550,000 housemaids and drivers are found in the Kingdom. Every month, an average of 20,000 housemaids come from Jakarta to be placed in Saudi households across the Kingdom.
Sugiarto said the purpose of the suspension was to provide quality manpower to these nations that rely on Indonesians as domestic servants.
“In addition, we want to standardize the procedures adopted by the government in coordination with the Indonesian overseas recruiting firms, which will in turn work with their counterparts in the respective countries,” Sugiarto said.
Domestic aides will be given more comprehensive training to familiarize them with host country regulations, culture and customs. Sugiarto said common problems faced by domestic workers in the Kingdom include nonpayment of salaries, maltreatment, sexual harassment and working off hours.
Sugiarto said the mission receives an average of 15 runaway housemaids per day, which is a negligible number in comparison to the Kingdom’s housemaid population.
However, he said these runaway maids are well looked after by the mission in its safe house. The mission, he said, takes every effort to negotiate with the employers to resolve the cases, failing which, the maids are repatriated without delay.
“At present, there are some 65 runaway maids in the safe house awaiting conciliation with their employers,” he said.
Waleed Al-Swaidan, chairman of the Saudi Arabian National Recruitment Committee at the Saudi Council of Chambers of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI), described the suspension as disturbing news for the housemaid recruitment market, since the largest number of domestics come from Indonesia. However, he said since it is a short-term suspension it won’t have a serious impact on the business.
“If the suspension continues for a longer period, we may have to look for other countries, such as Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Bangladesh to supply housemaids,” he said. Al-Swaidan commended the Indonesian housemaids for being both pleasant and hardworking.
Last year, during the visit of Jacob Nuwa Wea, Indonesia’s minister of manpower, issues such as worker’s rights, long working hours and the nonpayment of salaries for Indonesian workers were discussed with his Saudi counterpart, Dr. Ali Al-Namlah.
Some 90 percent of the 600,000 Indonesian workers in the Kingdom are domestics while others are paramedics or work in the maintenance, electrical and telecommunication fields.
There are 400 recruiting agencies involved in providing Indonesian workers to the Kingdom. A good number of unscrupulous agents are likely to be blacklisted when the country resumes recruitment after the suspension.
In 2003, there was a sharp drop in the number of Indonesian maids sent to the Kingdom after employers complained that many were underaged and untrained. The minimum age of housemaids has been set at 25, and the minimum salary is SR600 per month.
