Baddah, chairman of the National Recruitment Committee, has said that Indonesia stands to lose SR6 billion a year from the ban announced Wednesday on its nationals traveling to Saudi Arabia to take up employment. Al-Baddah told Al-Watan Arabic daily that approximately one and a half million Indonesian families will lose their main sources of income as a direct result of the measure, which he described as “Indonesia's own private decision”. “The Kingdom has recruitment alternatives from a number of other countries,” he said. Al-Watan cited an unnamed source at the Indonesia Embassy in Riyadh as saying that the ban, which comes into effect from Aug. 1, will “stay in place unless both parties (Saudi Arabia and Indonesia) sign a joint agreement to introduce articles in the protection of employer and employee rights contract”. “The re-initiation of recruitment depends on the signing of the agreement between the Saudi Ministry of Labor and its Indonesian counterpart,” the source said. Saudi Gazette reported Friday sources in Indonesia as saying that the ban, which was announced by the Indonesian Ministry of Labor Wednesday, might only be political meandering prior to elections in Indonesia. “The Indonesian government always turns to tactics like these ahead of elections,” the sources said. “It has announced the same ban several times in the past, yet the supply of Indonesians to Saudi Arabia has not stopped once.” Since disputes over labor supply and contracts began with Indonesia, Saudi Arabia has significantly increased its intake of housemaids from Ethiopia, Nepal, Kenya and Sri Lanka.
