RIYADH — A total of 26 National Recruitment Committee members have quit their positions without any official explanation, Al-Watan reported.
However, committee head Saad Al-Badah confirmed he was one of those who handed in their resignations and suggested abuse from the public was the reason for leaving.
“People have been complaining about the Kingdom's recruitment procedures and claiming there is a labor shortage after Indonesia expressed its wish to terminate a recruitment agreement with the Kingdom,” said Al-Badah.
He also said people forgot the achievements of the committee such as decreasing the price of recruiting Indonesian expatriates from SR12,000 to SR6,000 over the past five years and reopening recruitment from Bangladesh during the last two months.
“Saudis can recruit Bangladeshi workers for up to SR8,000 only and pay them a salary of SR800.
“The committee and the Ministry of Labor were criticized on Twitter and other media. We have the right to sue the people who insulted the committee and gone beyond constructive criticism.”
He added the Kingdom was the first country in the Gulf region to recruit Indonesian housemaids.
“The Kingdom has been recruiting housemaids for the past 35 years. Other Gulf countries have only been recruiting housemaids for the past 20 years," he said.
“Naturally, the recruitment market expanded and as a result prices increased.”
He added that housemaid recruitment expanded even wider than the Gulf, reaching Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore.
“Recruitment prices hiked in the Kingdom after the demand for housemaids increased, coinciding with the termination of recruitment agreements between the Kingdom and Indonesia, the Philippines, Ethiopia and Kenya,” said Al-Badah.
He also said the economy and living conditions of a lot of underdeveloped countries have changed.
“The Kingdom does not open any recruitment opportunities without a signed agreement between the Saudi Ministry of Labor and the other countries' governments.
“If the other countries wish to terminate the agreement with us, there is nothing we can do in this case.”
He added the recruitment industry in the Kingdom was not monopolized as rumored.
“The recruitment market has changed during the past years and there have been multiple discrepancies between countries hindering the recruitment process," Al-Badah said.
“The Ministry of Labor is doing its best to find alternative solutions for recruiting housemaids.”
