The drastic drop was mainly caused by the Indonesian maid who had been executed by beheading recently, Karim Suadi, the head of the local population, manpower and transmigration service, said here on Friday.
"Since reports on the case, no one in Balangan had made a request to become a migrant worker abroad," he said.
Before the case became widely known in the middle of June this year, only two persons had made a request to become migrant workers.
Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, where the execution took place, had been the most popular destination of migrant workers from Balangan.
"Besides, the Indonesian government moratorium on the sending of migrant workers to Saudi Arabia may also have been one of the causes of the drastic drop in interest," he said.
Only four women from Balangan had submitted a request for becoming migrant workers in Saudi Arabia in last January.
In February and March, there had been no such requests, and only in April ten women made such request.
In May, three women had submitted requests, so that from January until today only 19 people from Balangan had left for Saudi Arabia.
He added that the number of a drastic drop compared to those last year, in which up to July 2010 a hundred people had left for Saudi Arabia as migrant workers.
"The biggest number of TKIs (Indonesian migrant workers) who had gone to Saudi Arabia was in 2009 with a total of 635, consisting of 633 women and only two men," he said.
However, there is always a possibility that people from Balangan had become TKIs in Saudi Arabia illegally, such as those who managed to leave without the knowledge of agents appointed by the Indonesian government, Karim Suadi said.
(Uu.H-NG/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
