Dubai: The Indonesian Embassy confirmed that the country has stopped sending domestic workers to the UAE and all other Arab countries.
The announcement came after the newly elected president of Indonesia, which has approximately 90,000 expatriates, many of whom work as housemaids, in the UAE, vowed to stop sending housemaids abroad.
The practice is deemed contrary to the country’s “self-esteem and dignity.”
At a National Congress meeting on February 14, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced that he has directed the labour department to come up with a plan to ensure that there will be no more Indonesians working as housemaids in foreign countries.
“I have asked the Manpower Minister to set a target and formulate a clear road map, to ensure that we stop sending domestic workers abroad. We should have some self-esteem and dignity,” Antara News quoted Widodo as saying.
Indonesia is one of the major sources of female migrant workers, many of whom work as housemaids in the UAE and other areas in the Middle East.
According to the International Labour Office (ILO), the migration of foreign domestic workers from Indonesia and other Asian countries started in the 1970s as a result of rising wealth and living standards due to the oil boom in the region.
Widodo has recently visited Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and the Philippines and he learned that around 2.3 million Indonesians were working in these countries, and that nearly half of them were living illegally.
“About 1,800 of them have been rescued, 800 have been picked up by Hercules (military transport aircraft), and tomorrow we will pick some more up. But I am sure the numbers will continue to grow as we encounter problems in dealing with this issue,” he said.
Recruiters said the move will make hiring of maids in the UAE a lot tougher.
Indonesia has recently imposed a ban on the recruitment of their nationals as housemaids, while a number of countries, including India and the Philippines, have toughen the requirements for the hiring of domestic workers.
Rudi Holean, client relations manager of MaidCV.com, said that there has been a drop in supply of housemaids from Indonesia following the recruitment ban imposed by the government.
“We’ve been experiencing [the decline] from the past six months. There have been not many maids and there have been a lot of visa issues when it comes to Indonesian candidates. The same goes with Bangladeshi candidates as well,” Holean told Gulf News.
“There is demand in the market. A lot of people ask for Indonesian and Bangladeshi maids because the salaries are lower compared to Filipino candidates.”
Holean said the restrictions imposed by different countries are making it difficult for recruiters to meet the huge demand for housemaids in the UAE.
“The problem is not only because of Indonesian candidates. There are many issues, such as salary requirements and paperwork. For example, the Indian consulate has asked for a Dh9,500 security deposit other than the visa fees that we have to pay here in the UAE,” Holean said.
“For Filipino candidates, they can only be hired if they’re here in the UAE. If they’re back in the Philippines, the paperwork is quite tough. So, every nationality has its own issue at the moment.”
