Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government`s decision to impose moratorium on the dispatch of Indonesian migrant workers (TKIs) to Saudi Arabia should be supported and appreciated because the decision was courageous and pro the national interest and the protection of TKIs, according to an academician.

"Moreover, the moratorium would be revoked only when the Saudi government would improve the protection of TKIs and sign a bilateral agreement on the TKI protection with Indonesia," Prof Hikmahanto Juwana, dean of the University of Indonesia`s Law Faculty said here Thursday.

The moratorium should be implemented seriously by concerned ministers, and the public should help control the implementation, eh said.

The government has finally decided to impose a moratorium on the dispatch of migrant workers (TKI) to Saudi Arabia after being pressured by various parties following tragic ordeals suffered by several TKIs in the Middle Eastern kingdom.

"After considering and studying the impact of total tightening for the past three months the Indonesian government decided to declare a moratorium on the dispatch of workers to Saudi Arabia," Manpower Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said here on Wednesday (June 22).

The government had decided to temporarily stop sending domestic workers to Saudi Arabia as of August 1, in order to improve protection of Indonesian workers following increasing legal cases involving them so far.

The decision was taken following the execution of Ruyati binti Satubi (54) from West Java, who was beheaded with a sword in Mecca on Saturday (June 18) after being found guilty of killing the wife of her Saudi employer, Khairiya bint Hamid Mijlid, by striking her repeatedly on the head with a meat chopper and stabbing her in the neck, the Saudi interior ministry said in a statement.

The execution has prompted the government to protest the action by recalling its ambassador to the Middle Eastern kingdom. Various parties, including Ruyati`s family and NGOs, have also reacted angrily as the woman was beheaded without prior notice to the Indonesian representatives in Saudi.
(Uu.F001/HAJM)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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