Rape victim pleads for help for needed surgery<\/p>\n
This is the second of a series of articles on Nusa Tenggara Barat
\nvillagers employed overseas. Following the steady stream of
\nworkers returning home with stories of the abuses that they
\nsuffered abroad, our reporter Ridwan Sijabat visited the province
\nlast month and talked with some of the villagers about their
\nexperiences.<\/p>\n
A 27-year-old female migrant worker, Anika (not her real name),
\nlies motionless on a mattress in a small hut in Dalam village,
\nTaliwang district, Sumbawa regency, West Nusa Tenggara, waiting
\nfor donations so she can have surgery to treat multiple
\nfractures. The operation will cost about Rp 20 million
\n(US$2,350).<\/p>\n
Her husband Mansursyah, who is a communal farmer, told The
\nJakarta Post recently that he had to take his wife out of the
\nMataram General Hospital two weeks ago because he could no longer
\nafford to pay the hospital bills.<\/p>\n
"The hospital recommended surgery in Surabaya or Jakarta to
\ntreat the fractures to both her legs and chin but I don't have
\nthe money. That's why I had to bring her home."<\/p>\n
He said he received Rp 12.6 million from PT Jamin Harapan
\nAbadi, the labor export company that sponsored and sent his wife
\nto work as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia in July 2002, in
\ncompensation for his wife's abuse at the hands of her employer,
\nbut he used the money to cover her medical costs in Jakarta,
\nMataram and Taliwang, as well as their daily needs since her
\narrival in Jakarta on June 15, 2003.<\/p>\n
Barely eking out a living, Mansursyah has no monthly income or
\nassets to sell to cover the surgery for his wife.<\/p>\n
"I still have a couple of million rupiah but it is not enough
\nto pay for the surgery my wife needs," he said, adding that he
\nwas thankful to the labor export company and the Panca Karsa
\nFoundation, which has provided legal aid.<\/p>\n
Looking pale and weak, Anika can only lie on the mattress and
\ntake vitamin pills she received from Mataram General Hospital.
\nWith the help of her husband, she replaces the bandages on her
\nlegs each morning.<\/p>\n
Anika said she could ask nothing more of her husband because
\nhe does not have a permanent job and he has spent all of his time
\nover the last four months taking care of me.<\/p>\n
"I have asked him to divorce me but he refused to leave me
\nalone in my suffering."<\/p>\n
"The local manpower and transmigration office and the Panca
\nKarsa Foundation have pledged to look for donors to help me, but
\nso far there is no indication that I will undergo the surgery any
\ntime soon," she said.<\/p>\n
Anika said her suffering began two weeks after she arrived in
\nRiyadh to work as a domestic helper.<\/p>\n
She said she was dismissed from the first family she was
\nplaced with after the wife asked her husband to return Anika to
\nthe labor agency because she accidentally touched her hand while
\nthey were washing the dishes.<\/p>\n
"Through the labor agency, I was placed with another employer,
\na police officer in Riyadh," Anika said.<\/p>\n
Two weeks after her new placement began, Anika's employer
\nraped her. "After he took his wife to the hospital to give birth
\nto their first child in the evening, my new employer forced me to
\nwatch a pornographic movie with him. That night he entered my
\nbedroom and raped me."<\/p>\n
The following day Anika jumped from the second floor of the
\nhouse and ran to the nearby police station, where, she learned,
\nher employer worked.<\/p>\n
"After a long negotiation, I finally decided to accept the
\npolice's advice and return to my employer's house," she said.<\/p>\n
After several months, Anika was raped again. She says she
\ncannot remember how many times she was raped, but it happened on
\nnumerous occasions.<\/p>\n
Anika said she became desperate to stop the rapes. "I took a
\nknife and hid it under my pillow and tried to stab him when he
\ntried to rape me again. He grabbed the knife and hit me in the
\nface and stomach. He tortured me until I was almost dead."<\/p>\n
"I regained consciousness in the hospital. A nurse told me
\nthat a Good Samaritan found me dying on the side of the road
\nleading to the airport and brought me to the hospital. I had been
\nin the hospital for seven months. I also underwent surgery to
\nrepair the fractures to my chin and legs."<\/p>\n
After her condition improved, a Saudi Arabian labor agency
\nsecured a passport for her from the Indonesian Consulate General
\nin Riyadh to sent her home.<\/p>\n
After arriving at Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta International
\nAirport, Anika, accompanied by her husband, reported the case to
\nthe manpower ministry. "I was sent to the National Police
\nHospital in Kramat Jati (East Jakarta), where I stayed until I
\nwas allowed to come back here."<\/p>\n
Endang Sulistiyani, coordinator of the Panca Karsa Foundation,
\nsaid she and Anika's husband had filed a complaint with the
\nMataram Police but so far no action had been taken.<\/p>\n
"It is difficult for the police to process the case since
\nMansursyah settled the case peacefully with PT Jamin Harapan
\nAbadi. Both sides signed an agreement that the company would pay
\nRp 12.6 million in compensation and Mansursyah and his family
\nwould not bring the case to court," Endang said.<\/p>\n
Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea vowed
\non Friday to look into the case, saying it was the first he had
\nheard of the incident.<\/p>\n
"We will summon Mansursyah and the company that sent Anika
\noverseas to get detailed information on the case. Then we will
\ntake concrete action to solve the case," the minister vowed.<\/p>\n
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\nFoto Arsita
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