10,000 Indonesians deported from Saudi Arabia

Indonesian Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief said yesterday that his government would bring home at least 10,000 illegal workers from Saudia Arabia.

Saudi Arabia last week began rounding up foreign nationals who it said had ignored warnings to leave the country before an October 16 deadline set them to regularise their immigration status.

Some 7,000 people are now in the Indonesian consulate in Jeddah, some 2,900 people are in temporary shelters, and around 100 people are in Riyadh. "We estimated that the figures will increase," Latief said.

Thousands of workers from Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, are employed legally in Saudia Arabia, mostly as domestic servants, nurses and laborers, Al Akhbar daily said today October 27.