Body of migrant worker arrives at airport

Body of migrant worker arrives at airport

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Four months after her death, the body of Maesaroh, a 28-year-old
female migrant worker from East Java, arrived at Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport on Friday at around 10:30 a.m. on a
Malaysian Airlines flight.

Maesaroh -- who started work in Amman, Jordan, in January 2000
to earn money to support her family -- was declared dead from
tuberculosis on Dec. 18, 2003, by the Home Hospital Gaza
Palestina.

But migrant worker activist Norma, quoting a staffer of the
Indonesian Embassy in Jordan, Budi, who took Maesaroh's body
home, said that she died from a heart attack.

"We doubt the official statement on the cause of Maesaroh's
death," she said.

Maesaroh's coffin was not accompanied by documentation and no
officials were allowed to open it and view the body.

Norma said that the cause of death remained unclear.

"Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration officials said she
died from tuberculosis that she had contracted before leaving the
country," she said.

Another migrant worker activist, Mulyadi, also questioned the
cause.

"Her family was sure that she did not suffer tuberculosis
before working in Jordan," he said, as quoted by news portal
detik.com.

Mulyadi was awaiting the arrival of the body at Adi Sumarmo
Airport, Surakarta, Central Java, before taking it home to Ngawi,
East Java.

"The family will confirm that the body is Maesaroh's before
deciding whether to ask for an autopsy to ascertain the real
cause of death," he said.

Mulyadi said that Maesaroh's husband, who works as a farmer,
received a letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Jan.
29, 2004. The letter was dated Jan. 16, 2004.

"The ministry requested the family allow Maesaroh's body to be
buried in Jordan but her husband disagreed. He insisted that we
brought her wife's body back home," he was quoted by
Tempointeraktif.com as saying.

A manpower ministry official, Jimin Naryoyo, was also unable
to explain the cause of Maesaroh's death.

"We can't explain it. There was no documentation with the
coffin," he said.