JAKARTA - Indonesians that desperately want to find their way out from Saudi Arabia have found a new way to do so. A few hundred peaceful Indonesian demonstrators that organized a rally in front of the Indonesian consulate general in Jeddah were arrested for... well demonstrating peacefully and are now waiting to be deported. Most of the demonstrators stayed the country illegally after their haji or umroh or stayed there while their contract stopped in the hope of a better future there.
When hundreds of people got arrested, the word of the demonstration spread fast. Hundreds of other Indonesians soon joined the demonstration in the hope to be arrested as well. In total there are over 1.000 Indonesians currently being detained because they have overstayed their visa. Not willing to pay the overstay fee, they hope that being arrested will mean free deportation for them.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, Hassan Wirajuda, said last July that he personally saw how Indonesians were trying to get themselves arrested so they would be deported from Saudi Arabia. “This is not about citizen protection anymore but a misdeed committed by our own citizens,” he said. An team was set up by Indonesia and Saudi Arabia to find a proper solution for the problem
Labor activist Anis Hidayah said that the overstaying Indonesians were demonstrating because they wanted to have a free trip to their home country. She said that the consulate general did not acknowledge the situation of the protesters and did not enough to monitor the migrant workers in the country. "Most of them came to work legally but they were abused and weren’t paid, so they ran away from their employers," Anis said.
Those who were seen as undocumented have most likely had their passports retained by their employers. Some of them might also be victims of trafficking and got tricked into working in Saudi Arabia. Anis said that the government should make a difference in groups of overstayers wince they were partly to blame as well, stating the lengthy and costly process for becoming a migrant worker as the main reason to find a cheaper and faster way in by brokers.
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JAKARTA - Indonesians that desperately want to find their way out from Saudi Arabia have found a new way to do so. A few hundred peaceful Indonesian demonstrators that organized a rally in front of the Indonesian consulate general in Jeddah were arrested for... well demonstrating peacefully and are now waiting to be deported. Most of the demonstrators stayed the country illegally after their haji or umroh or stayed there while their contract stopped in the hope of a better future there.
