Saudi Arabia Bans Indonesian Maids

Saudi Arabia announced on Wednesday that it would stop granting work permits to domestic workers from Indonesia and the Philippines, following the restricted hiring conditions imposed by both Asean countries.   

This is a reaction to the strong protests made by the people and the government of Indonesia against the beheading of an Indonesian citizen Ruyati binti Satubi (54) who was sentenced to death by a Saudi Court for murdering of her employer.
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Kompas reported that last week President SBY denounced the beheading of Ruyati and accused Riyadh of breaking the “norms and manners“ of international relations.

Moreover, the Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Muhaimin Iskandar announced that the government shall  impose a moratorium on the sending of maids to Saudi Arabia.

I hope that from now on our government would pay much more serious attention on our workers who are working abroad, i.e. conclude agreements with foreign governments that provide strong protection for our workers working in their countries, make sure that they are well trained and skilled before they are send abroad. All of which is necessary because our workers abroad contributed big amount of foreign currency to our country.