Number of illegal workers in Saudi not final

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief said yesterday the number of illegal Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia he reported to President Soeharto last month was not final.

He said the figure differed from that given by the Indonesian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Zarkowi Soejoeti because they were collected at different times.

"My figure was obtained when I went to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 5," he said.

Latief said early November that 24,357 illegal workers had been sent home in a one-month repatriation program. He said there were about 150,000 illegal Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia.

But while Soeharto was on a minor pilgrimage to Mecca, Zarkowi told the President that the actual number of illegal workers was only 18,000. He did not say how many have returned, but in a Kompas report yesterday the number was quoted as 18,000.

It cost the country US$300 to send each worker home. The money was taken from the state-owned workers insurance company PT Jamsostek.

Latief said yesterday he would ask the Indonesian defense attache in Saudi Arabia to check the number again.

"The defense attache can only run a data collection now as he has been very busy in the past week preparing for President Soeharto's arrival in Saudi Arabia," he said.

The repatriation operation, involving Garuda airlines and Air Force planes, was conducted after Saudi Arabia ended a three- month amnesty and began expelling illegal foreign workers.

Late yesterday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said his office was recounting the number of Indonesian workers repatriated from Saudi Arabia.

"I don't know why we have different reports on the number of illegal workers. There were probably mistakes in the counting," Alatas said during a break in a hearing with the House of Representatives. (imn/amd)