KUWAIT'S AMBASSADOR TO INDONESIA CRITICIZES GOK ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 002147

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
NOFORN

FOR NEA/ARP, INL/HSTC, AND G/TIP
JAKARTA FOR DESJARDINS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/23/2016
TAGS: PHUM PREL KIRF JO ID KU TIP RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
SUBJECT: KUWAIT'S AMBASSADOR TO INDONESIA CRITICIZES GOK ON
TIP, WARNS OF IRAN-INDONESIA LINKS

Classified By: DCM Matt Tueller for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (C) Kuwait's Ambassador to Indonesia, Mohammad Fadel
Khalaf, met with the DCM on May 23 to discuss his concerns
over the treatment of Indonesian domestic workers in Kuwait.
He criticized Indonesia and especially his own government for
not doing enough to protect Indonesian workers, and suggested
that the GOK needs to set up an independent institution to
protect domestic workers. He also criticized the GOK for not
signing a bilateral agreement with Indonesia and stated that
his embassy had not been asked to help implement standardized
domestic worker contracts, contrary to public statements by
the GOK. He lauded Indonesia for its resistance to Islamic
extremism and expressed hope that the GOK's new "moderation"
campaign would discourage extremism in Kuwait. Finally, he
expressed strong concern with the growing relationship
between Iran and Indonesia.


Grim Situation for Indonesians Domestic Workers in Kuwait
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2. (C) Mohammad Fadel Khalaf, Kuwait's ambassador to
Indonesia, Singapore, and East Timor since 2004, requested a
meeting with the DCM to discuss his concerns about how
Indonesian maids are being treated in Kuwait. In the May 23
meeting, Khalaf reported that there is a "lobby as strong as
the NRA in the United States" in both Kuwait and Indonesia
that resists any reform to end the exploitation of Indonesian
maids for labor in Kuwait. He also referred to the special
interests seeking to protect the lucrative domestic employee
business as a "mafia". Agents in Indonesia appeal to common
Muslim feelings by telling maids that Kuwait is close to the
Kaaba and that Kuwaitis will treat them well as fellow
Muslims. The maids then arrive to find that the contracts
have been changed and they are treated poorly. He said that
he interceded to have the late Amir's private plane used to
repatriate 500 Indonesian maids. (Note: In a completely
unrelated meeting the following day, the Chairman of the
Kuwait Trade Union Federation also claimed credit for this
airlift. End Note.)

Bilateral Agreement Needed to Protect Workers
--------------


3. (C) Khalaf said he thinks Indonesia's current president,
Susilo Bambang, is interested in reform, but that the rest of
the government is resistant. The Indonesian Labor Ministry
wants to sign a bilateral agreement with Kuwait to protect
worker rights, but Khalaf was disappointed that Kuwait wants
to continue abiding by a 1986 MOU. (Note: Ministry of
Justice officials have shown Poloff a draft model agreement
for such a bilateral work agreement. The draft model
agreement was drawn up by the Asian African Legal
Consultative Organization (AALCO),with significant input by
Kuwait, as the basis for a bilateral agreement to be signed
by sending and receiving countries. Ambassador Khalaf had
never heard of the organization or the agreement.)

Dismisses Standard Contract, Demands Domestic Labor Agency
-------------- --------------


4. (C) The DCM asked Khalaf's view of Kuwait's standardized
domestic labor contract, recently touted in the press by
Khalaf's cousin, the Assistant Undersecretary for Security
Services at the Ministry of Interior. Khalaf dismissed the
contract as insufficient and said the only way to fix the
domestic labor problem was to cooperate with the sending
countries and to set up a governmental domestic workers'
affairs body in Kuwait, which would be independent of any
Government ministry. (Note: On the subject of the Kuwait
Union of Domestic Labor Offices (KUDLO),Khalaf said the
organization's chairman, Fadhel Ashkenani, has close contacts
with the Ministry of Interior officials who are supposed to
be protecting domestic workers, but whom Khalaf thinks are
corrupt. End Note.) Poloff noted that Ministry of Interior
officials had said the delay in implementing the contract was
due to Embassies abroad needing to prepare bureaucratic
processes. Khalaf said he had not heard anything about his
embassy being involved in the process in any way.

Indonesian Embassy is Part of the Problem
--------------


5. (C) Khalaf opined that the Indonesian Embassy in Kuwait
is part of the problem. He accused them of profiting from

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hiring out domestic workers who come to the Embassy for
refuge and of turning a blind eye to employers holding
workers passports in order to earn money from passport
reissuance fees. Poloff has met with a New Zealand citizen
who speaks Indonesian and volunteers at the Indonesian
Embassy's shelter. She said some Embassy officials were
corrupt in the past, but that the current staff is less so.
Reliable Post contacts have recently reported that the
Filipino Ambassador was "taking a cut" of profits gained from
hiring out Filipina domestic workers, so complaints of
source-country embassy involvement are believable.

Khalaf Encourages Moderation in Islam
--------------


6. (SBU) Khalaf praised Indonesians for their more tolerant
implementation of Islam, and blamed the violence found in
Middle Eastern Muslim groups on the male-dominated society
that separates men and women. He agreed with what he
characterized as an Indonesian view that violent "Islamism"
is a reflection of tribal Arabism, and not Islam. Khalaf
wondered if Kuwait's new moderation campaign would be an
effective tool to fight extremism.

Khalaf Worried about Increasing Iran-Indonesia Ties
-------------- --------------


7. (C) Khalaf expressed concern about the increasing
closeness of relations between Indonesia and Iran. He noted
that Iran had been investing in Indonesia, for instance in
oil refineries, in anticipation of possible sanctions.
Khalaf observed that no important Indonesian officials had
attended the first two Iranian national day parties of his
tenure, but that this year six ministers and the speaker of
parliament had attended. He interpreted this as one among
many signs of the improvement in ties between the two
countries.

Bio Note
--------------


8. (SBU) Khalaf, born in 1957, is the son of a diplomat who
served in Tunisia. He graduated from a university in
Grenoble.

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For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit:
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Visit Kuwait's Classified Website:
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