Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Ambassador to Syria, Wahib Abdul Jawad, said that many Syrian employers are reluctant to send Indonesian migrant workers back to Jakarta.

"We have asked them to return the Indonesians, and we have even offered them compensation, but they refused. They chose to keep their employees rather than the compensation cash," the ambassador told ANTARA here on Friday.

Most of the migrant workers are employed as housemaids in Syria. However, some Syrian employers have sent back 400 migrant workers to Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the embassy has evacuated some 233 Indonesians to Jakarta since January 2012.

According to the embassy`s data, there are a total of 12,500 Indonesians in Syria. Most of them are migrant workers and students.

A driver of the Indonesian embassy and Syrian national, Abdul Rojak Harbi, was shot dead in Damascus while he was taking the embassy`s car to a workshop on Wednesday (May 30).

Wahib Abdul Jawad told ANTARA on Friday that Harbi, 56, who had worked for the embassy since 1985, was buried near his home in Damascus.

The ambassador added that although Damascus is relatively safe, other provinces such as Homs, Hama, Daraa, Deir ez-Zor and As Suwayda are in a dangerous situation. (*)

Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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