Angry Indonesian migrant workers torch the Indonesian consulate in Jeddah
An Indonesian woman was killed yesterday after thousands of angry migrant workers set alight to the Indonesian consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
In a statement, Indonesia’s foreign ministry confirmed the death of 57-year-old Marwah binti Hasan, who had been among around 12,000 people queuing outside the consulate in the Saudi capital awaiting a resolution to their immigration status. Before the fire, crowds had started to surge, causing a crush. The exact cause of Hasan's death has not been confirmed.
Since April 10, the government of Saudi Arabia has granted an amnesty to foreigners, including undocumented migrant workers, who have overstayed their visas. This means they can try to set their papers in order or leave the country without penalty. The amnesty ends on July 3.
The Indonesian government has attempted to help citizens who have overstayed their visas to obtain the correct papers. But anger has spread about the slow pace of the process, with only a third of the nearly 50,000 Indonesians who registered themselves having received documents from the consulate.
“It is the accumulation of anger among migrant workers who so far face inadequate service,” Anis Hidayah, from the Jakarta-based Migrant Care organisation, said of the incident yesterday.
She added that thousands of Indonesians had to queue lengthy periods in temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius.
“There were no tents, drinking water and medical workers,” she said. “Some people collapsed almost every day due to such hot temperatures and thirst and hunger.”
She suggested that the Indonesian government should add more staff in both its embassy and consulate and provide more facilities.
A legislator, Rieke Diah Pitaloka, blamed the Indonesian government for the incident.
“The government led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono doesn’t have strategy. When the government of Saudi Arabia makes it easy, the Indonesian government doesn’t make use of it seriously. Again, people become victims,” she told reporters in Jakarta.