PDIP Protest Plans To Lift Ban On Sending Workers To Saudi Arabia

Semarang, Central Java, Nov 19 (Antara) - Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) protests plan by Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar to lift moratorium on the sending of workers to Saudi Arabia. "There is no reason whatsoever supporting the plan," Eva Kusuma Sundari, a lawmaker and member of the Team Supervising Indonesian Workers, from the PDIP faction at the House of Representatives, said here on Tuesday. The plan is against the Law No 39 of 2004 and a recommendation from the Special Team of the House of Representatives for workers in 2011, Eva said. The recommendation requires a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia before resuming the sending of workers to that country, she said. She said PDIP hopes that the minister did not fail to notice that the Saudi government had shown no sympathy the Indonesian over stayers anguishing in their camps in that country. Around 8,000 over stayers have experienced a situation of inhumanity as a consequence of the absence of MoU and poor government policy on the workers, she said. "The workers suffered from hunger, their valuables were confiscated and there was no health care facility offered. "Some of them fell ill and there was no medical treatment provided for those seriously sick," she said. She said the manpower minister should not make the over stayer issue to justify his plan to lift the moratorium for short term gain by ignoring aspect of protection for the workers. She said his party wanted to remind the minister to be consistent in carrying out and implementing the Law No. 39/2004 and observe the decision made in the plenary meeting of the House of Representatives in December 2011 stating that moratorium on sending workers to Saudi Arabia could be lifted only after there are improvements in the domestic policy , revision of the law No. 39 on worker recruitment and protection (PPTKILN) and MoU with that country.