New regulations by the Indonesian government for the recruitment of domestic workers has created a number of obstacles as recruitment offices in the Kingdom struggle to obtain domestics from the far eastern country.

Firstly, the Ministry of Labor is faced with the problem of the limited number of occupations allowed by the Indonesian government for its nationals to work in Saudi Arabia. According to the new regulations, domestic workers can work in only five occupations, namely, cook, babysitter, child care, driver and gardener. The Indonesian government also demands clear job descriptions for its workers and refuses to allow them to work outside their occupations.

However, the Indonesian authorities have pledged to give their workers training in the five occupations to enhance their skills, the Kingdom’s culture and a course in Arabic language prior to their departure, a local daily said.

The second obstacle that the Labor Ministry is facing is the objection by 400 recruitment offices in the Kingdom to the demand of the Indonesian government that they will only negotiate with major companies. Fearing that they will be edged out of the local market, some 50 complaints against major companies have reached the Labor Ministry claiming the monopolization of the local market as a result of acceding to the Indonesian government’s demand.

They said that they have over 2,000 employees and therefore deserve to make the recruitment deals. Moreover, they fear that they may go out of business altogether if this trend prevails.

The recruitment offices have urged the Labor Ministry to find a solution to the problem.

The Indonesian government announced earlier that it was in negotiations with the Ministry of Labor to resume the recruitment of domestic workers to the Kingdom.