"We hope that there will be a moratorium on sending workers to Saudi Arabia," Khofiffah Indar Parawansa, chairperson of the Muslimat NU said here Wednesday.
Khofiffah, former women`s empowerment minister, said the moratorium was needed while the Indonesian and Saudi governments renegotiate migrant workers protection arrangements. The renegotiation talks should be as detailed as possible, she added.
The nation also needed to identify and renew date on the existing migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, she said.
Indonesia should learn for the Philippines which has renegotiated on its migrant worker protection with the Saudi government, she said.
The Philippines had managed to persuade Saudi Arabia in 2001 to go back to negotiation table to discuss in detail about the workers` holidays, salaries, and even the seize of rooms provided for them by Saudi employers.
"Even up to how much voltage of the lights (in the workers` rooms) is negotiated," she said.
There was no reason for the government not to renegotiate the protection of the migrant workers, she stated.
She also called on the government to create more job opportunities at home to accommodate the migrant workers when the moratorium was imposed.
Earlier, former vice president M Jusuf Kalla (JK) has suggested that the government stops sending migrant workers overseas for the sake of the nation`s dignity.
"The sending of migrant workers (TKI) abroad must be stopped, because the per capita income of the Indonesian people has increased from US$1,000 last year to US$3,000 this year," Kalla said in Malang, East Java Province, Wednesday.
All problems faced by the nation should be seen as challenges and be dealt with jointly, he said.
"We must protect the nation`s dignity by improving the national self-reliance. And it could be realized by not depending on other nations, including by not becoming TKI. In Addition, technology and education are also very important," he said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
