Lankan’s new Envoy for Saudi plans to form migrant workers’ registry

Mohammed RASOOLDEEN in Riyadh

The Colombo-based lawyer who has been appointed Sri Lanka’s new Ambassador to the Kingom plans to form a registry of all migrant workers in the Kingdom so that every Lankan worker can be tracked with the touch of a button.

“Although it would take some time to complete such a register, such a document would help the mission identify the workers in no time,” said Abdul Ajeed Mohamed Marleen, who has been in active practice for the past 36 years and succeed A.M.J. Sadiq, who wrapped up his tenure prematurely, within two years, following a recall from the Foreign Ministry.
 

Marleen was bestowed with the post of President’s Counsel in 2001, an honour conferred on outstanding legal men. Since 1991 he has been the president of the Moors Islamic Cultural Home (MICH) and secretary general of the Afro-Asian Solidarity Association, which is based in Cairo.

He has also officiated as the Chairman of the Board of Management of Zahira College, Colombo.

Speaking to Daily News, Marleen, who is slated to arrive in the Kingdom in early February, said he plans to focus initially on the welfare of the island’s migrant workers.

“It is the Government’s duty to look after their interests during their overseas stay and help them lead a problem-free life,” Marleen said, pointing out that there are more than 500,000 workers in the Kingdom and a majority of them are domestic workers.

He lamented that in times of emergency, the mission finds it difficult to trace the whereabouts of a housemaid who works somewhere in the Kingdom.

“The housemaids come in groups from recruitment offices in Colombo and they are passed on to their counterparts in the Kingdom who send them for deployment to various households throughout the country”.

Besides promoting investment to his country, Marleen said that he wants to bring down more Saudis as tourists to the island.

“Saudis who have visited the island , had repeated their visits several times and had also introduced Lanka’s resorts to their friends,” Marleen said , adding that he wants to see more of them visiting the island thus building a bridge of understanding between the peoples of the two nations.

Observers have hailed the Sri Lankan Government’s move in appointing an Ambassador with legal background in view of a large number of legal problems that Sri Lankan expatriates in Kingdom have been facing.

“An Ambassador with a strong legal background will be in a better position to understand the legal implications of the labour problems of the Sri Lankan expatriates and advise his government accordingly.”