The government will tighten the surveillance of Indonesians wanting to work in Saudi Arabia with a haj minor visaJakarta (ANTARA News) - Head of the Indonesian workers placement and protection agency (BNP2TKI) Moh Jumhur Hidayat said the misuse of minor haj visa for working in Saudi Arabia should be ended.
"The government will tighten the surveillance of Indonesians wanting to work in Saudi Arabia with a haj minor visa," he said here Friday.
Minor haj visas by Indonesians for working in the country had been misused for a long time and tended to have intensified over the past years, he said.
They were then called as "over-stayers", he told newsmen when welcoming the arrival of 335 Indonesian over-stayers here from Jidda, city of west-central Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea.
A total of 335 Indonesian over stayers arrived at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Cengkareng, Banten Province, on Friday.
Before they had been repatriated by the Indonesian government, they had to stay for some time under the Khandara bridge in Jidda because of overstaying.
In the beginning it was planned to repatriate 336 Indonesians in the second stage, but the foreign ministry reported that one of them had to stay somewhat longer because of a miscarriage, and would be returned to Indonesia as soon as she is fit.
Those who had been repatriated consisted of 282 migrant workers, 19 with minor haj visa, 15 children, and 19 babies.
The government had previously repatriated 301 overstaying migrant workers first stage on February 14.
Saudi Arabia currently employs 927,500 Indonesian migrant workers, making it the second biggest user of Indonesian manpower after Malaysia.
The fate of troubled Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia has attracted the attention of the government and the public after many of them got stranded under the Jidda city`s flyover.
(*)
Editor: AA Ariwibowo
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
