awaited new contracts for Indonesian domestic workers will come into force this month, said an official Sunday from the Foreign Recruitment Committee at Asharqiya (Eastern Province) Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Hussein Al-Mutairi, the committee member, added that the Indonesian authorities have agreed to cancel all conditions it had previously imposed in their unified contract, after negotiations with the committee. The new contracts require only a copy of the employer's identification and a copy of the visa. Previously the Indonesian authorities wanted a Saudi applicant to provide a letter from his employer of his salary, a map of his house and photographs of family members. Al-Mutairi added that costs now would be subject to supply and demand, instead of the fixed amount of SR8,000. Under the new contract, he said, the costs for employing a domestic helper would be SR12,000, with SR10,000 for recruitment and SR2,000 for the visa. He blamed the rise in costs on the fees of brokers in Indonesia who now charge about $900 for recruitment. Brokers, he said, had played a major role in creating a supply-and-demand gap. The previous contract fixed their fees at $200, but because they are the main suppliers of workers from Indonesian villages, they were able to pressure recruitment offices in Indonesia to raise their fees. Their pressure had also resulted in domestic workers only arriving in the country after five months because there was an acute shortage of supply. He said Indonesian authorities have completed procedures for about 180,000 suspended visas, with only a 5,000 backlog remaining. Most of the domestic workers have arrived in the Kingdom while the rest will come before Ramadan.
