News:

On Wednesday 19^th February, the Indonesia government and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the first time signed a protection pact which they claim is aimed at protecting 1.2 million Indonesian domestic helpers in Saudi Arabia. For Indonesia, this signing of the bilateral agreement is actually a milestone in terms of placement and protection of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia.

The agreement between both countries has been signed by Muhaimin Iskandar, Indonesian Minister of Manpower and Transmigration and Adiel Muhammad Fakieh from the Saudi Ministry of Labor. A statement released by the Ministry Office said the agreement covers the manufacture of online employment contracts, access to external parties' communication, the provision of days off, and the payroll system through the banking services. According to the agreement, domestic workers will apparently no longer be deprived of their passport and they will have some basic protection rights for the first time such as a 9 hour daily break, prompt payment of their salary at the end of each month, sick leave and a one-month paid vacation every two years.

Some parties said that for decades the protection of Indonesian workers in Saudi has been weak, marked by hundreds of cases of torture and lack of respect for the rights of migrant workers. "This is the beginning of a new history in the placement and protection of our workers in Saudi Arabia. We expect this pact could improve the protection of migrant workers who work there," Muhaimin said before the signing ceremony. According to Muhaimin, the agreement will provide legal certainty both for employers and for workers.

Comment:

How shameful that after decades, there has just now been a serious effort of both countries to provide protection for thousands of Indonesian women! This is after dozens of years and thousands of casualties who have been enslaved, persecuted, abused and even killed. For example, Migrant Care Executive Director Anis Hidaya is quoted as saying that there are 9 Indonesian migrant workers on death row in Saudi Arabia awaiting execution, while 33 cases are being processed.

These two Muslim countries have perpetuated exploitation of millions of Muslim women in the name of profit and national interests of both countries. These rulers do not realize that nationalism and the nation-state system they believed in has led to the destruction of the dignity of the Ummah, dehumanizing those who are from another nation, with their own sisters treated as a commodities. They even proudly implement and praise the secular capitalist system - both its values and its imperialistic economics laws - and continue to maintain this destructive ideology. Their efforts to improve the labor law or perform bilateral agreements are meaningless actions that will have no impact on alleviating this dire state of economic oppression.

This is not surprising as these rulers are actually the remnants of colonial Western capitalist countries who have embraced the idea of nationalism and the struggle for independence of nation-states that was part of the strategy of the West to divide the Muslim Ummah by dismantling the Khilafah "Caliphate" Uthmaniyah in Turkey in 1924. They are not the protectors of this Ummah, nor the protectors of Muslim women! They actually are the 'cancer' in the body of this Ummah, betraying Islam and immolating the daughters of this Ummah! They are far from the character described by the Prophet (saw) with regards to what an Islamic leadership should be, as narrated by Al-Araj from Abu Hurayrah who said the Prophet (saw) said: "‏"كُلُّكُمْ رَاعٍ وَكُلُّكُمْ مَسْؤول عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ، الإِمَامُ رَاعٍ وَمَسْؤولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ "Each of you is a guardian, and each is responsible for those under his care. A ruler is a guardian".

Millions of Muslim women today desperately need their true guardian that will protect both their honor and their families, and also place the protection of the honor of women as a priority. They should be viewed as a dignity that must be protected and financially maintained and NOT seen as cheap labor. The prevention of tyranny and protection of women will only be realized under the Islamic ideological system of the Khilafah "Caliphate" which has a political vision to implement ALL the Islamic principles and laws in society. The Khilafah "Caliphate" is the only system capable of providing credible and practical solutions to the various political, economic, and social problems that currently afflict women throughout Muslim countries and across the world.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Fika Komara

Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir