Jakarta — Jakarta and Riyadh have agreed to restart hiring Indonesian domestic house workers in the Kingdom. This resumption is after a hiatus of 11 years.
The Saudi Deputy Minister of Human Resources and Social Development for Labor, Dr. Abdullah Abuthunain, and Indonesia’s Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah signed an agreement.
This agreement was for the ‘Single-Channel’ project. The project aims to resume the recruitment of Indonesian domestic workers to Saudi Arabia in several disciplines.
Under the deal, recruitment would be carried out through recruitment companies effective from signing the agreement.
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The agreement was finalized at a ceremony held on the island of Bali. This was done in the attendance of the Saudi Deputy Minister for International Affairs, Dr. Adnan Al-Naim, and a technical team from the ministry.
Also present during the ceremony were the Representatives of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The officials attended numerous technical meetings between the two sides.
During these meetings, they discussed topics of shared interest in the labor market. They also discussed the operational aspects of the new recruitment project.
This project comes under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development’s framework. Via this framework, they focus on unifying the channel for recruiting Indonesian domestic workers.
The ministry also focuses on facilitating the recruitment process from Indonesia. This aims to secure the rights of all parties involved in the contractual relationship.
It also helps diversify the nationalities of domestic workers. The diversification serves the requirements and needs of the Saudi labor market.
The signing of the agreement is the outcome of intensive efforts. These efforts were to break the deadlock concerning the recruitment of house workers after 11 years.
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Indonesia suspended sending housemaids to Saudi Arabia and other countries in the same region in 2011.
The suspension was following the execution of a housemaid after she was convicted of killing her Saudi employer.
Later, Indonesia agreed with the Kingdom and other Middle Eastern countries to send domestic workers. However, the outbreak of coronavirus delayed their arrival.
A few months ago, Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Indonesia revealed significant news. The embassy stated that both countries were exploring the prospect of resuming the recruitment of house workers.
The embassy sources said individual employers would no longer recruit Indonesian domestic workers. Indonesian domestic workers would be hired by companies deploying them in the Saudi labor market.
During that time, the Saudi Ambassador to Indonesia, Issam Al-Thaqafi, expressed hope that Jakarta would soon resume sending domestic workers to the Kingdom.
