I am writing with regard to the report “Uneasy calm outside Indonesian consulate” (June 11), which dealt with the incident at the Indonesian consulate in Jeddah where expatriates were complaining about the inefficiency of consulate staff. I wonder if the staff were given enough notice about the grace period for expatriate workers. Knowing the large number of illegals of many nationalities here, the staff should have been given advance notice so that they could prepare themselves by taking on extra workers and developing systems to cope with the large number of illegal expatriates who need to regularize their residency status. I feel sorry for the consulate staff, I feel sorry for the workers who have been waiting for days in the hot sun, I feel sorry for the residents of the area near the consulate. Where was the advanced planning? S.K. Nassif, Online response
