Activists deplore poor support given to maid
JAKARTA (JP): Human rights activists have expressed concern over the reported poor support given by the Indonesian Embassy in Saudi Arabia to Sulaita Anam Kafiran, who was executed in Mecca on Tuesday.
An activist from Solidaritas Perempuan (Women's Solidarity), Tati Krisnawaty, said yesterday that the apparent silence on the part of the government when asked about what representation it made on Sulaita's behalf had raised doubts about how strenuously the embassy defended her rights.
Sulaita, who was a migrant worker, was beheaded by sword after being convicted in 1993 of murdering a Saudi woman with an ax.
News of the woman's plight only became available here on Wednesday, after her execution, when an international news agency carried a report from two Saudi newspapers. They said the woman that Sulaita allegedly murdered was her employer,
Indonesian Embassy officials in Riyadh confirmed the execution on Wednesday, but were unable to provide detailed information about Sulaita, the case, or the representation made on her behalf.
Tati, who learned about the case Thursday, said the lack of rights protection for migrant workers in Saudi Arabia would have left Sulaita very vulnerable.
She would not have had a lawyer, and she would not have known anything about the Saudi legal system, Tati said.
She also said that the Indonesian Embassy had not been persistent enough in defending Sulaita's rights as a migrant worker.
Sulaita's death revealed how fragile migrant workers' rights were, Tati said.
A member of the National Commission on Human Rights, Asmara Nababan, said yesterday that he doubted whether the Indonesian Embassy had offered professional legal advice to Sulaita for her trial.
"If they didn't, Sulaita's rights as a defendant were not protected at all," Nababan told The Jakarta Post.
Nababan called on the Indonesian government to support migrant workers' rights through a bilateral agreement with those countries who hire Indonesian workers.
He said embassies should be provided with enough staff to look after Indonesian citizens abroad.
An official of the Association of Labor Export Companies (APJATI) said yesterday that the Indonesian Embassy had made repeated appeals on Sulaita's behalf to the Saudi government, asking for a milder punishment, Antara reported.
The official, Farid Nahdi, who heads APJATI's Saudi Arabia division, said that Sulaita went to Saudi Arabia legally through an Indonesian migrant worker agency, PT Andromeda Graha, the news agency said.
A spokesperson for Andromeda was not available for comment on the case yesterday.
Sutikno, a spokesperson at the Ministry of Manpower's Directorate General of Manpower Placement and Development, said yesterday that the ministry had made unsuccessful attempts to lessen Sulaita's punishment. (09/05)