Jakarta, Nov 8 (Antara) - The Indonesian government will continue to
provide services and protection for Indonesian workers who have
overstayed their residency permits in Saudi Arabia following the end of
the amnesty provided by the Saudi government.
The assistance to workers will be provided by the Indonesian Embassy in
Riyadh and the Indonesian Consulate General (KJRI) in Jidda.
The
Saudi government has provided amnesty for workers without valid permits
and gave them a chance to attend to their travel documents in lieu of
passports (SPLP) until November 3, 2013.
"Many Indonesians overstaying without permits have not yet completed
attending to their SPLP because of complicated procedures at the Saudi
Immigration Office. They applied for legalized documents to go home or
to continue their work in that country," Tatang B Razak, director for
Indonesian Citizen Protection Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, said in a written statement.
Tatang made the statement amid a move by the Saudi government to launch
raids on Indonesians working without permits, following the end of the
amnesty. According to detiknews online media, on the first day of the
raids, about 7,500 Indonesian workers had been apprehended.
Therefore, Migrant Care urged the government to provide protection to
thousands of Indonesian workers who have not yet obtained official
documents.
"Migrant
Care urges the Indonesian government to prepare to take steps during
the raids and deportation period," Migrant Care Executive Director Anis
Hidayah was quoted as saying by detiknews on Thursday.
Anis explained that Indonesian workers needed protection so that they
would receive humane treatment during the raids and deportation process.
Migran Care also urged the Indonesian government to approach Saudi
authorities so they would not indiscriminately enforce the law.
"So far, Saudi employers who used illegal immigrants have never been given legal sanctions," noted Anis.
Anis said Migrant Care has seen that some employers expelled their
illegal workers following the end of the amnesty, as the Saudi police
and immigration officials conducted raids on public locations, such as
public transportation stations, shopping centers and beauty shops.
The waves of raids forced many Indonesian workers to avoid arrest and
went to the KJRI for protection. "The KJRI evacuated them from the
Falistine bridge to surrender at the Tarhil or to Sumaisyi Immigration
detention centers in Jidda," said Anis.
"On the first day of the raids, about 7,500 Indonesian workers packed the Tarhil detention house," he said.
According to a press release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on
Monday, there are about 101,067 Indonesian workers overstaying without
permits in Saudi Arabia. Of the total, 95,262 have applied to the
authorities to obtain SPLP documents.
Up until the amnesty program deadline expired on November 3, 2013, a
total of 17,259 had obtained permits to continue working and 6,257 were
given official documents to return to Indonesia.
According to Tatang, Indonesia is taking various steps to help solve the problem of Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia.
"The approaches taken by the Indonesian government included lobbying
Saudi officials at the representative office, senior officials,
ministerial levels and the state level where the Indonesian President
has written to Saudi King Abdullah twice," said Tatang.
Besides these efforts, the Indonesian government is also doing its best
to lobby Saudi authorities so that they would be prepared to legalize
Indonesian workers.
According to Reyna Usman, the director general of manpower and
placement, the Indonesian government will attempt to renegotiate with
the Saudi government to legalize illegal Indonesian immigrant workers
who have overstayed their residency permits.
"We hope to get a special treatment for Indonesians who have taken part
in the amnesty program offered by the Saudi government, despite the
fact that the amnesty program has ended," Reyna Usman said.
On Sunday, the Saudi government ended the amnesty program it had
offered to foreigners during the past several months, including
Indonesians, who had overstayed their permits.
"The Saudi government will soon conduct raids on those without permits.
Indonesian migrants who are apprehended will be held at immigration
detention centers before they are deported," Jumhur Hidayat, the head of
the National Agency for Placement and Protection of Indonesian Workers
Overseas (BNP2TKI), said on Sunday.
Jumhur added that based upon information he received from the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, the number of Indonesians who had sought travel
documents in lieu of passports (SPLP) totaled 95,262.
He said of the total, 15,571 had obtained official manpower documents
from the Saudi government, while 6,035 others had been given exit
permits to return to Indonesia. Of the 6,035, 5,973 had returned to the
country.
Thus, Jumhur said, there are still 73,655 Indonesians in Saudi Arabia
who have not yet obtained official manpower documents or exit permits.
Therefore, Reyna Usman added that the Indonesian government would
continue to coordinate with the Saudi government to legalize the status
of Indonesian workers.
"We continue to coordinate with the Saudi government so that illegal
Indonesian workers' status could be legalized so that they could remain
to work in Saudi Arabia legally," noted Reyna.
Indonesian Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar is
expected to meet his Saudi counterparts, the Saudi manpower minister and
the home affairs minister, to discuss solutions to Indonesian workers
overstaying their work permits.
"We are seeking breakthroughs through diplomatic approaches with the
Saudi government on the need to accelerate services at the Saudi
Immigration offices so that the handling of Indonesians' documents could
be accomplished soon," Reyna said.
She said that the Indonesian government hoped that Saudi authorities
would provide Indonesia with special treatment, apart from deportation
and amnesty programs.
The special treatment is needed because the number of Indonesian
workers who take part in the amnesty program exceeds the service
capacity of the immigration offices.
The ongoing negotiations still concern a memorandum of understanding, which does not bind the two sides.
But ahead, said Reyna, the government would encourage Saudi Arabia to
agree to a more binding agreement on the placement and protection of
Indonesian workers, in an effort to avoid the repetition of overstaying
cases by Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia.***2***
(T.A014/INE/O001)
(EDITED BY INE)
(T.A014/A/BESSR/O. Tamindael) 08-11-2013 14:57 |
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