Opinion

Let Saudis recruit Indonesian workers directly

October 30, 2018
Let Saudis recruit Indonesian workers directly

Muhammad Ahmad Al-Hassani

Okaz

During a visit to Indonesia, the Minister of Labor and Social Development Ahmad Al-Rajhi signed an agreement for the return to the Kingdom of Indonesian workers, which will allow nearly 30,000 workers from that country to return to the Saudi labor market during the first year of the agreement.

I understood from the news published in local newspapers that the recruitment process will be done through companies working in both countries, and not through individual requests, as it was done in the past. Indonesian labor recruitment was suspended a number of years ago and returned about two years ago, through recruitment companies.

Families were hoping that after many years of negotiations with the Indonesian side, recruitment would be opened directly and individuals would be allowed to apply directly and not through companies that exploit them financially.

It looks like this issue was not solved during the minister’s visit, as local recruitment companies are still getting their commission for each recruitment application.

Sadly, many families have been exploited by these recruitment companies, which take advantage of their urgent need to hire a housemaid. I personally have dealt with one of these companies when I needed to recruit a housemaid. I was cheated by a company that took money from me. The housemaid did not arrive for three years and I was unable to get a refund.

I went to another recruitment company to recruit another housemaid. They provided an Indonesian housemaid for SR24,000, as a contract deposit for two years and a monthly salary of SR2,000, of which, SR1,200 was for the housemaid. The total amount that I will be paying for the period of the contract is SR 80,000. I have to mention here that I will also have to pay the added value tax on the contract deposit and on the monthly housemaid salary and on the amount that is monthly transferred to the recruitment company.

Most of these recruiting companies cannot fulfill their contacts. We are not allowed to recruit directly and the recruitment companies take a lot of time, and sometimes we fall victim to financial fraud. We are left with no solution but to deal with these recruitment companies with no solution in the near future.


October 30, 2018
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