Drug-induced insanity gets migrant deported<\/p>\n
Rather than coming home rich, an Indonesian migrant worker from
\nWest Nusa Tenggara returned to his home village barely able to
\nspeak his name after being deported by the Malaysian authorities
\nearlier this month.<\/p>\n
Sahdi, 34, a resident of Jago, a remote village in a
\nmountainous region in Praya district, Central Lombok, has been
\nacting strangely since his arrival home on Oct. 14, 2003.<\/p>\n
\"My mother collapsed after seeing Sahdi, who was sent home
\nwith an escort of Malaysian police officers. He was dressed in
\ndirty robes and had a pair of different colored sandals on. He
\nwas still handcuffed. Sahdi then told my mother about how he had
\nbeen injected with a mood-altering drug before being deported,\"
\nSahdi's youngest brother, Sahrizal, told The Jakarta Post at his
\nhome here recently.<\/p>\n
Sahdi is still displaying symptoms of abnormality, even though
\nhe appears to be gradually getting better after two weeks of
\nmedical treatment from nurse employed by the state psychiatric
\nhospital in Mataram.<\/p>\n
\"At nights, he likes staying outside. He keeps talking to
\nhimself about his problems and the situation where he used to
\nwork. He often talks about how he mediated between the two sides
\nin a brawl among his fellow Indonesian workers, and how he was
\nput in a detention center in Kuantan. He has also mentioned the
\nnames of the Malaysian officers who gave him the drug injection,\"
\nsaid Sahrizal.<\/p>\n
Sahdi said he was employed on a plantation belonging to Felda
\nPlantation Sdn. Bhd. in Jerantut, Pahang, Malaysia.<\/p>\n
He said that he was put into a detention center after he was
\nblamed for causing a quarrel among a number of other Indonesian
\nworkers in the plantation, and for demanding that their employer
\npay the workers six-months salary each.<\/p>\n
\"It's true Pak, I was blamed for the quarrel although I was
\nonly trying to mediate between the workers involved. Our employer
\nAh Lai also did not like me as I asked him to pay our salaries
\nfor six months,\" he told the Post.<\/p>\n
He added that his employer had frequently spoken rudely to the
\nIndonesian workers as they had asked him for their wages on a
\nnumber of occasions.<\/p>\n
According to Sahdi, the Indonesian workers were paid not on a
\ndaily basis but rather based on the number of oil palm stems they
\ncut. They were paid 80 cents for each stem.<\/p>\n
Sahdi said further that after being released from the
\ndetention house, he met with his employer to ask for the workers'
\nwages, \"but, later, he called up the police to have me arrested
\nbased on the excuse that I was causing trouble in the company.\"<\/p>\n
\"I was arrested again and put in Kuantan prison,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"I was given an injection when I started shouting in my cell
\nto protest against my employer's mistreatment of me. After the
\ninjection, I became unconscious. I don't remember what happened
\nafter that until I was examined by a psychiatrist at the Permai
\nPsychiatric Hospital in Johor Baru,\" he recounted. He said he had
\nalso been asked about his religion before he was given the
\ninjection.<\/p>\n
While putting on his trousers, Sahdi showed the Post the mark
\non his body where the injection had been given.<\/p>\n
Sahdi accused his former employer of paying the police and
\nimmigration officers to deport him to Indonesia, saying: \"After
\nthe injection, I was brought to the psychiatric hospital to get a
\n(medical) recommendation for my deportation.\"<\/p>\n
Sahdi's mother Rah binti Railah said her relatives were
\nshocked when the Malaysian police officers informed them that her
\nson had been deported for \"acting abnormally\" in his workplace.<\/p>\n
\"I have five children working in Malaysia and all of them were
\nhealthy when they left for Malaysia,\" she said, adding that her
\nson had often spoken about the injection he received following
\nhis arrival home.<\/p>\n
Samiun, who is treating Sahdi, confirmed that his patient was
\nsuffering from psychiatric problems. He said, however, that Sahdi
\nwas recovering.<\/p>\n
Dr. Helmi Azhar, the head of the Mataram Psychiatric Hospital,
\nsaid Sahdi was in dire need of an accurate examination to
\ndetermine whether he had been injected with a mood-altering drug
\nor not.<\/p>\n
\"We would never do such a thing here. That is why we need to
\nconsult with the hospital in Johor Baru to get accurate
\ninformation about Sahdi's mental state when he was examined
\nthere,\" he said, adding that the local administration should
\nrequire all workers to undergo a psychiatric examination before
\nleaving for overseas.<\/p>\n
Atun, the head of the labor advocacy division at the Panca
\nKarsa Foundation, which assists migrant workers experiencing
\nproblems, said the injecting of mood-altering drugs had long been
\npracticed by the Malaysian immigration authorities when deporting
\nmigrant workers.<\/p>\n
\"We have filed complaints with the government and the ILO as
\nwe have encountered 40 similar cases over the last three years,\"
\nshe said, adding that all the cases concerned male workers who
\nhad been linked to brawls and other crimes in their workplaces.<\/p>\n
She said the government should respond seriously to the
\npractice as it was a clear breach of human rights.<\/p>\n
----------
\nFoto Sahdi
\n-----------<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/drug-induced-insanity-gets-migrant-deported-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}