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n Sunday, a stampede outside the Indonesian consulate in Jeddah led to the death of one woman, while scores fainted, as thousands of Indonesians were waiting to have their documents processed.

Many blamed 'unruly' workers and a local culture where queuing is not a habit. Meanwhile, an official at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry in charge of migrant workers, Jumhur Hidayat, pointed to  'provocateurs' among unnamed parties 'who benefit from undocumented or illegal Indonesian workers', Republika daily reported.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said a special team had been working around the clock since Saudi Arabia issued an amnesty policy last month for all foreigners lacking proper documents. These would include undocumented workers and other workers apart from those on pilgrimages and students who had overstayed their visa.

With a capacity to cater for 5,000 people daily, the teams at the consulates in Jeddah and Riyadh have handled thousands of people daily since dawn. On Sunday, the consulate accepted almost 6,000 applications while more than 12,000 Indonesians came, with some workers expressing disappointment, Faizasyah said. People queuing in temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius stayed overnight outside the consulates rather than lose their place in the line.

Lawmaker Rieke Dyah Pitaloka blamed the lack of embassy posts catering for Indonesians. Hence, workers from many towns descended on the consulates, while the deadline for the amnesty is July 3.  

The spotlight these days is on the management of our migrant workers. With decades of experience, and decades of benefits that we reap from these migrants, many fail to truly comprehend what happened on Sunday.  

Since the 1980s, when Indonesia intensively sent workers to many countries, Saudi Arabia has always been among the favorite destinations. Late last year, the kingdom received some 1.5 million Indonesian workers.  A World Bank report this year revealed that Indonesia received US$7.2 billion from some 6.5 million migrants, or about 1 percent of our gross domestic product (GDP).  

While the benefits of sending workers abroad for three decades have been clear ' to help overcome unemployment and poverty ' the riot reflected how we have failed to improve the handling of these workers, which includes the coordination of the ministries in charge of manpower and foreign affairs.

The sheer numbers of those who came to the consulates should be an important element in the investigation. While our officials blame the Saudi authorities for the 'sudden' announcement of the amnesty policy, the bigger question is the estimated 100,000 Indonesians without proper travel papers.

Apart from individual travelers, they would include a large number of illegal workers, who are supposedly taken care of by their agencies.

Pending a thorough investigation into the incident, what has become evident in past migrant worker cases is the failure to effectively regulate the sending of workers through credible agencies. The persistent practice of bribery, leading to illegal workers, has become an obstacle to improving the situation, despite every effort made to regulate migration ' on top of the extortion of workers by bureaucrats, agencies and employers.

If we had we done our homework, perhaps the Jeddah stampede could have been avoided.