Regulations would be made based on policies linked to the system of recruitment and supervision would also be done on the process of recruitment at home and at points of departure.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has decided to temporarily stop sending domestic workers to Saudi Arabia as of August 1.

Manpower Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said here on Wednesday the decision was made to improve protection of Indonesian workers following increasing legal cases involving them so far including that of Ruyati that led to her execution recently.

"After considering and studying the impact of total tightening for the past three months the Indonesian government decided to conduct a moratorium on the dispatch of workers to Saudi Arabia," he said at a press conference at his office.

He said the moratorium was the final step of total tightening done since January and would only be revoked after a memorandum of understanding is signed by Indonesia and Saudi Arabia on the protection of workers and on the establishment of Joint Task Force by the two countries.

"Regulations would be made based on policies linked to the system of recruitment and supervision would also be done on the process of recruitment at home and at points of departure," he said.

The minister said during the tightening period job orders from Saudi Arabia had dropped drastically from 1,000 everyday to only five since January to June.

"During total tightening there has been a shortage of workers because their number has dropped drastically from around 30,000 a month to 12,000 or 15,000 a month," he said.

Following the tightening he said the Saudi government has now been willing to conduct negotiations for the protection of workers after so far in 40 years has not been willing to.

The two important meetings that have been done so far are the one in Riyadh on December 7, 2010 and the first round of the Senior Official Meeting in Saudi Arabia that produced the signing of an initial agreement for the memorandum of understanding by the Saudi minister of labor and the head of the National Agency for the Protection and Placement of Workers (BNP2TKI) last May.

While negotiations were ongoing sending of workers was tightened by controlling job orders tightly through increased requirements to better select employers wishing to employ Indonesian workers.

Among the requirements are documents stating that the employer has a good conduct, a house map, the number and pictures of family members and employer`s willingness to open communication access and also a minimum wage of 11,000 reals.

"So far the government has continuously been calling on would-be workers to not go to Saudi Arabia if they are not ready," he said.

During the tightening suppliers had been called to tighten recruitment process and shift the dispatch to other countries.

Muhaimin hoped the moratorium could be used by all parties to jointly work to put the system of employment and protection in order to prevent recurrence of cases that hurt workers.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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