Indonesia may lift ban on sending workers to Kuwait

kuwaittimes.net, KUWAIT: The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) about to be signed between Kuwait and Jakarta could pave the way for the lifting of the Indonesian government's temporary ban on sending Indonesian workers to Kuwait, according to a senior Indonesian Embassy official here. Aris Triyano, the First Secretary and Spokesman for the Indonesian Ambassador in Kuwait Faisal Ismail spoke with the Kuwait Times yesterday about the issue in response to the news from Jakarta, which suggested imminent improvements in migrant workers' conditions in Kuwait once the two countries finally sign the MoU.

The initial reason for the MoU was to request that the Kuwaiti government provide more protection for our workers in Kuwait. So yes, the ban [on workers coming to Kuwait] will be lifted if we agree on the content of the MoU," he explained.

The Indonesia Embassy in Kuwait approved the Indonesian Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration's plan to finally settle its migration issues with Kuwait through the MoU, which they also want to sign with Malaysia. Reports from Jakarta noted that immediately after signing the MoU, conditions for Indonesian workers in Kuwait will improve.

The memorandum could include the introduction of a mandatory monthly minimum wage and weekly day's holiday for Indonesian workers and an end to employers being allowed to retain their passports.

While I do not know the nature of the MoU if it's true, this is good news for our workers. But we haven't received the MOU yet. It could be sent through the Embassy of Kuwait in Jakarta; they could actually direct the documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here. But as far as the embassy of Indonesia in Kuwait is concerned, we do not know about the MpU as yet," he said.

He confirmed however that a preliminary meeting was held in Kuwait last year between Kuwaiti and Indonesian officials regarding workers rights, but added that the final agreement had not yet been released.

I can only confirm our preliminary meetings with the Kuwaiti side last year; as far as I know, we invited them [the Kuwaiti officials] to visit Jakarta, and they haven't responded yet to our invitation. So I assume the MoU has not been completed as yet. But I think, given the readiness of two countries to enter into agreement, it could happen pretty soon," he said.

The Jakarta Globe website quoted Iskandar Maula, the director of the Indonesian Ministry of Overseas Workers, as conceding that Kuwait needs more time to study the proposals contained in the MoU. He stressed that the agreement is necessary as there are many Indonesian workers in Kuwait who have been unable to leave the country after encountering problems, citing sponsors' lack of cooperation as the major obstacle.

Jakarta suspended the deployment of Indonesian workers to Kuwait in September 2009, citing increasing numbers of problems experienced by Indonesian domestic staff working here.

Triyano explained that many domestic workers had heard about the parliamentary human rights committee's earlier amnesty for expatriate workers hired by fake companies (on Article 18 visas), which allowed such workers to either amend their status to make it legal or leave the country without being penalized. Misunderstanding the nature of the amnesty, many of the domestic staff fled to the embassy and to its shelter in Khaifan, believing that the pardon would allow them to escape their sponsors.

In reality, however, only His Highness the Amir can grant amnesties for other categories of expatriate worker. "The number of runaway housemaids has increased in the past few weeks or so after they heard about the amnesty," Triyano told the Kuwait Times. "They thought that the amnesty was given to all." In fact, however, only His Highness the Amir can grant amnesties for other categories of worker.