Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – The governments of Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are exploring the prospect of resuming recruitment of domestic workers, Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Indonesia has stated.

Indonesian domestic workers will no longer be recruited by individual employers but will be hired by companies that will deploy them in the Saudi labor market, Al-Akhbar 24 reported quoting embassy sources.

“If an agreement is reached between the two countries to resume recruitment, there will be specific provisions in the agreement that these workers will be under companies and not under individuals,” the embassy said.

The Indonesian Ministry of Labor and the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development are carrying out studies in this regard, the embassy said, while denying reports about resuming the recruitment of Indonesian workers to the Kingdom.

The embassy urged the public to obtain information from authentic official sources and not to go after rumors.

Saudi Ambassador to Indonesia Issam Al-Thaqafi expected that Indonesia would soon resume sending domestic workers to the Kingdom after a hiatus of eight years.

Indonesia suspended sending housemaids to Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region in 2011 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 but the outbreak of coronavirus has delayed their arrival.

Source: Saudi Gazette

Reporting by Indonesia Window