JEDDAH: Despite the wave of protest following the alleged abuse of an Indonesian housemaid in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi embassy in the Indonesian capital received 2,000 work visa applications on the opening day Sunday after the Eid holiday, a Saudi diplomat said. The embassy in Jakarta has received 2,000 passports from Indonesians who have recruitment contracts and seek visas to work in the Kingdom, said Abdul Rahman Khayat, the Kingdom's ambassador to Indonesia. He denied reports that the Indonesian government has demanded that it participate in inquiries into reports that an Indonesian maid working for a Saudi family in Madina was physically abused by her female employer. “On the contrary, the Indonesian government has expressed its full confidence on the investigating authorities in the Kingdom,” Khayat said. He said some protesters in Indonesia called for the punishment of the suspected attacker and pointed out that he clarified that “the abuse of the housemaid was an individual incident that does not cast a dark light on all Saudis, who host one million Indonesian workers.” He said he assured the protesters that justice will take its course and that the maid's sponsor has been detained and sent to Madina General Prison. Khayat said he anticipates that the Indonesian Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection will visit the Indonesian Consulate in Jeddah and check on the condition of the maid, who is hospitalized at King Fahd Hospital in Madina. “We welcomed this request and her application has already been submitted so a visa will be issued immediately upon receiving consent from the authorities concerned in the Kingdom,” he said.
