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.

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. 

Poverty and inadequate numbers of jobs in the country are among factors which have forced around 4.32 million Indonesian men and women to work overseas, especially in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Gulf countries, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Human tragedy and suffering sometimes befall migrant workers. Several of them came back home in coffins due to illness, murder or accidents, and some domestic helpers have become disabled due to torture by their employers. 

The latest tragedy befell 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.

Another female worker, Darsem binti Dawud, has managed to escape the sword after the government announced its readiness to pay a Rp 4.6 billion (US$520,000) fine to spare the house maid from execution in Saudi Arabia.

Darsem, a migrant worker from Subang, West Java, previously said she killed her employer in self defense after he tried to rape her.

Another female worker, Sumiati binti Salan Mustapa had been beaten so severely that the 23-year-old suffered broken bones and internal bleeding in Saudi Arabia, in 2010. 

Her employer, who is currently being arrested, also allegedly placed a hot iron against Sumiati`s head and stabbed and slashed the woman with scissors.

The incident became public when Sumiati came to the emergency room of King Fahd Hospital in Madinah with multiple wounds on her body. She told police that her employer had tortured her.

The case shocked and outraged Indonesians, rights groups and labor activists as another example of the paucity of protection given to millions of domestic workers, including in Saudi Arabia. 

Since January, the government has in fact tightened the dispatch of migrant workers to Saudi following protests that flared up soon after news on inhuman treatment received by Sumiati reached Indonesia.

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 have 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. 

The just-announced moratorium 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, according to Minister Muhaimin.

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. 

Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Agung Laksono said earlier the government had indeed received requests from many parties to declare a moratorium on the dispatch of workers to Saudi Arabia.

Agung said in fact President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had requested the ministry of manpower and transmigration and the National Agency for the Protection and Placement of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) to study on the moratorium some time ago following the torture of Sumiati in Saudi Arabia.

The House of Representatives (DPR)`s Commission IX on Tuesday (June 21) urged the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry to immediately impose the moratorium. 

The House`s Commission IX chairman, Ribka Citjaning, issued the urge after expressing deep condolences for the grieving relatives of the late Ruyati binti Satubi at Kampung Srengseng Raya, Suka Darma village, Sukatani sub-district, Bekasi regency on Tuesday. 

Khofiffah Indar Parawansa, chairperson of the Muslimat NU, the woman`s wing of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) - Indonesia`s largest Muslim organization, also urged the government to temporarily stop sending migrant workers to Saudi Arabia.

"We hope that there will be a moratorium on sending workers to Saudi Arabia," she said early Wednesday (June 22).

Khofiffah, former women`s empowerment minister, said the moratorium was needed while the Indonesian and Saudi governments should 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.

The former minister reminded the government to create more job opportunities at home to accommodate the migrant workers when the moratorium is 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," Kalla said.

Saudi Arabia currently employs around 927,500 Indonesian migrant workers mostly as housemaids, making it the second biggest user of Indonesian manpower after Malaysia.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marty told the Parliament recently that a total of 303 Indonesian migrant workers had been threatened with the death penalty overseas over the past 20 years.`

The government had managed to help 12 of them escape the death penalty, the minister said.(*)  

Source: ANTARA