JEDDAH: Recruitment committees at several Saudi chambers of commerce and industry have called for an “immediate halt” to recruitment from Indonesia in protest at what they say is an unfair Indonesian media campaign against the Kingdom. Committees described media coverage of the torture of an Indonesian housemaid in Madina and other issues as designed to force Saudis into paying more for housemaids, thereby circumventing an agreement signed between the National Recruitment Committee and labor unions in Indonesia. “The Indonesian media has claimed that workers setting up home under the Sitteen Bridge in Jeddah were fired by their employers,” said Muhsin Al-Omairi, recruitment committee chairman at the Makkah Chamber of Commerce. “That does not make sense, as an employer pays about SR8,000 for a worker and that would be like throwing money away.” Al-Omairi described his committee as “having over 20 years' experience on the methods of Indonesian labor unions”, whose workers send home a total of more than SR10 billion a year. “We are pretty sure that the campaigns are designed to pressure the Saudis into increasing prices. However, we will not increase prices. We would rather halt recruitment from Indonesia, and we have alternatives ready.” Yahya Aal Maqboul, chairman of the Jeddah Chamber's recruitment committee, said a number of offices under its jurisdiction had started rejecting applications for Indonesian labor because of the Indonesian side's alleged failure to commit to fees, and the delay in the arrival of workers. Saad Al-Baddah, chairman of the National Recruitment Committee, confirmed that others were doing likewise. “Indonesian labor unions' failure to commit to the agreement, and the involvement of middlemen in the recruitment process, has resulted in many recruitment offices halting labor from Indonesia,” he said. He added that the committee was meeting Saturday at the offices of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Riyadh to discuss alternatives, which he described as “many”. “Approval for recruitment from Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, Mali and Ethiopia will be given very soon,” he said.
