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 -------------- -------------- ¶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 KUWAIT 00002147 002 OF 002 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. ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* * TUELLER