Helloword : Thousands of Indonesian Workers in Egypt Untraceable

Thousands of Indonesian women migrant workers (TKW) in Egypt have remained untraceable in the middle of the political crisis in Egypt, an Indonesian Embassy spokesman said on Sunday.

"About 5,000 TKW in Egypt cannot be detected because they did not report to the Indonesian Embassy when they arrived here for the first time," said Muhammad Abdullah, the spokesman from Indonesian Embassy in Cairo, said.

According to him, the women migrant workers from Indonesia used to report to the embassy when they wanted to extend their passport validity or had problems with their employers.

The Indonesian Embassy in Cairo renewed the data of Indonesian citizens in Cairo and had registered 800 people. Manpower regulations in Egypt disallow non-formal foreign workers in the country.

They came to Egypt with the help of third parties via Gulf countries. Abdullah said the women migrant workers usually brought here by their employers from Saudi Arabia and Gulf oil-rich countries when they had vacation to Egypt and then they changed boss.

"In Egypt, they usually work as housemaids for middle to high level people, like businessmen, artists and government officials," he said.

The former spokesman of the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo, Muhammad Haras Baco, who used to deal with troubled women migrant workers, said they were many enough.

"I got information from Egyptians and local immigration office that the housemaids from Indonesia were many enough, but unfortunately they were illegal," said Haras, who have stayed in Egypt for tens years.

Despite in Cairo, the women migrant workers also worked in several provinces in Iskandariyah, Luxor, Marsa Matruh, Suez and Port Said, he added while adding that most of them came from Jordanian. The Indonesian Embassy in Cairo provides shelter for troubled TKW and almost each year the troubled workers are returned to Indonesia.

Some of them had just been returned through evacuation group of Indonesian citizen which was facilitated by the Indonesian government. Meanwhile, the third evacuation group for Indonesians had departed from Cairo airport to Jakrta by Garuda airplane on Sunday evening, and was scheduled to arrive in Jakarta on Monday morning.

The airplane carried 401 Indonesians, including 317 women university students, 69 men university students, 11 kids and four women migrant workers. The fourth group of evacuation will be hold on Tuesday, Abdullah said.

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