Chairman of the JCCI’s recruitment committee Yahya Maqbool also claimed that the Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s ban was not official, suggesting that Indonesian workers were simply put off coming to the Kingdom because of the alleged media negativity in Indonesia.
“There is currently no official ban on workers, but we have told our recruitment agents not to accept new applications for Indonesian workers due to the small number of applications from them,” Maqbool told Arab News.
He added that most Indonesians are reluctant to work in Saudi Arabia due to media reports and television shows depicting Saudi sponsors as abusive of their housemaids and drivers.
He said it was propaganda and that Saudi Arabia was like other countries, with good and bad citizens.
“In Saudi Arabia, we do not only have cases of abuse but success stories of workers coming to the Kingdom, saving money and going back home to open businesses, restaurants, hotels and other ventures. It is not fair for the media to only report on the few negative cases and completely ignore the positive ones,” Maqbool said.
He accused the Indonesian Labor Committee (ILC) of not adhering to the set terms in the agreement between the two countries.
“We would like to continue upholding our relationship with them but the ILC are not upholding the conditions of agreements we have with them,” he said, adding that issuing visas for the very few Indonesia workers interested in coming to the Kingdom would not benefit either side.
He did say, however, that visas already completed and sent to the Saudi Embassy in Indonesia for recruitment would be honored.
“We are not accepting new applications, but Indonesian workers who already have completed processing of their visas will be allowed to enter the Kingdom,” he said.
