More Than 500 Indonesian Maids Await Repatriation
M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan, Arab News
RIYADH, More than 500 Indonesian maids are currently stranded in
Saudi Arabia awaiting repatriation. This includes about 300 housemaids,
serving prison terms in jails across the Kingdom. Jakarta is currently
studying measures aimed at protecting the interests of Indonesians
working abroad.
Some maids were arrested and sent to jail for serious offences like
theft, forgery and murder, but a large number of them were booked for
minor crimes, said M. Sukiarto, labor attache at the Indonesian
Embassy, yesterday. Sukiarto could not say when they will be released
from the prison.
There are over 200 maids stranded in safe houses alone in Riyadh and
Jeddah awaiting deportation. He said that the Indonesian diplomatic
missions had set up two temporary boarding facilities called safe
houses where runaway maids or female workers facing problems, are
housed. The maids are repatriated back to Jakarta when their cases are
settled with the sponsors and a formal clearance from Saudi government
agencies is obtained.
In many cases in the past, Sukiarto said that the embassy sought the
intervention of the Saudi officials to settle the problems or resolve
legal complexities.
A large number of our women workers, mainly those serving prison terms
inside the jails and reformatory centers of the Kingdom, are granted
royal clemency by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd every
year, enabling them to reunite with their families back home, said the
embassy official.
He said that the Indonesian Embassy received between 10 to 15
complaints a day about mistreatment, non-payment of salaries and sexual
harassment. More than 853 Indonesians complained of mistreatment by
their employers in Saudi Arabia last year alone. Nearly a quarter said
they had not been paid. Others complained of torture or maltreatment.
Unscrupulous private employers, recruitment agents and sponsors are
often blamed for such labor exploitation. There are nearly 600,000
Indonesian women workers in Saudi Arabia.
The embassy together with a few private organizations, is also working
to set up task force in nine Saudi cities to look after the female workers.
Leo Imanov
Abdu-lLah
AllahsSlave
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