Another haze

This nation owes a debt of gratitude to Agence France Press, a French international news agency, for its report last week about an Indonesian citizen who had been executed in Saudi Arabia for murder. Soleha Anam -- not Sulaita as earlier reported -- died a tragically lonely and neglected death at the hands of Saudi executioners in Mecca on Tuesday of last week. Not a single word about the heartbreaking fate of this poor domestic helper and the fact that she had been jailed for three years had leaked from the desert kingdom before AFP reported the execution on Oct. 1.

How could it be that an Indonesian, working in a foreign country, had died without due attention from our embassy in Riyadh or from the Ministry of Manpower?

Soleha was an Indonesian citizen and a taxpayer. She deserved recognition that she was not a nonperson and her case should not have been buried in a haze. Soleha went to Saudi Arabia because she had a dream for a better future and a decent life. She was not someone who never existed. She deserved better attention from the Indonesian Embassy in Riyadh, which is responsible for the safety and well-being of Indonesians living in the kingdom.

But we are completely in the dark about how much the embassy and the ministry which supervises the sending of Indonesian workers abroad knew about her tragedy and whether they tried to help her. We have the impression that they did very little to defend the woman since she was charged by the local Islamic court.

This greatly contrasts with the case of a British nurse who has been accused of murdering an Australian colleague in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, last year. Unlike Soleha, the nurse's case has drawn international public attention.

Similarly, when a Filipino worker in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) town of Al Ain was convicted of murder in September 1996, Filipinos and people throughout the world sympathized with the underaged girl.

It was no less than Philippine President Fidel Ramos who appealed to the UAE ruler for the safety of Sarah Balabagan. Even French President Jacques Chirac kept his eye on the case and promised to intervene in a manner that would not disregard the UAE's sovereignty.

But Soleha's case seemed to have been regarded differently. Instead it seems that our embassy in Riyadh, the Ministry of Manpower and the Association of Labor Export Companies neglected to inform the nation about the woman's tragic death. Soleha deserved attention. Although she may have pleaded guilty to murder, judging by the educational background of most Indonesian women working abroad, she must not have been very aware of her legal rights or of the rigidly applied Islamic laws in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has publicly beheaded 115 people this year, provoking a New York-based human rights organization to appeal to Saudi authorities to halt all executions immediately. Human Rights Watch has said that the kingdom's legal system has failed to provide basic fair trial guarantees, which allows the judiciary, the royal family and other well-connected individuals to manipulate the system to their personal advantage.

In Indonesia, calls have been made by various circles for the end of the exportation of Indonesian women to the Middle East because it tarnishes Indonesia's good image. Such calls started six years ago and intensified after it was learned that many migrant workers experienced abuse at the hands of their employers. However, Indonesian authorities have persistently defended the policy of sending women workers abroad because they say it is a good way to improve the lives of many Indonesian women.

And throughout the implementation of the policy, Indonesian authorities have tried to hide any reports about the dark side of women's working conditions there.

Now it is high time the government put an end to the operation of sending female domestic helpers abroad and instead send skilled workers. If this cannot be done, attention and protection for Indonesian domestic workers abroad should be significantly increased in response to the many reports of intolerable conditions they face. They are often exploited from the time of their recruitment from Indonesian rural areas up to the time they return home with what little money they have saved from the experience.

We urge the authorities to explain the case of Soleha as soon as possible for the sake of other Indonesian workers abroad, and in order to respect the nation's right to know.