JEDDAH: Errant Saudi sponsors have had to cough up a total of SR3.7 million in unpaid salaries of hundreds of Indonesian housemaids over the course of the year, it was revealed Saturday by Edwar Nizar, the consul for consular and labor affairs at the Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah. This amount is what was paid to 937 housemaids this year up until Oct. 29. He said the exact total comes to SR3,717,635. Some of the housemaids had not been paid for 13 years. Of the total, 617 housemaids returned to Indonesia, and 320 went back to their sponsors. There were 10 cases pending from the year earlier. Nizar said that on average nearly 1,000 maids come to the consulate every year complaining about unpaid salaries. Every year millions of riyals are paid back to the maids by their Saudi sponsors, he said. He said that of the housemaids who come to the Indonesian consulate every year, about 80 to 90 percent eventually get paid their back wages. The remaining 10 to 15 percent are runaways who have worked for just 15 days to three months. Nizar explained that in all cases, the consulate negotiates with the sponsors and following a settlement sends the housemaids back to work. If the negotiations fail, as a last resort, the case goes to court, where it can take a few months or a couple of years to resolve. This is because there are many such cases being considered by the courts at present, involving maids from other countries. The Indonesian consulate has a special shelter which was built in 1998, shortly after the consulate building was constructed, to house those women who no longer want to work for their sponsors or who have run away. Of the 106 maids at the consulate's shelter at present, 31 came just in the month of October. These housemaids claim that they are owed SR764,738 by their sponsors. Nizar said that the shelter has four large rooms with 150 beds, and 10 bathrooms. It also has a kitchen, a hall for meetings and a prayer room. The housemaids receive free food, medicine, and toiletries. The nearly SR100,000 a month cost of the shelter is met by the Ministry of Manpower in Jakarta. There are various activities for the housemaids such as making handcrafts, religious lectures, and games. “They also prepare their food, which keeps them busy,” Nizar said, and added, that sometimes they volunteer to clean the consulate and prepare tea.
