Indonesian maids appeal for leniency in murder case

Hera Diani The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

As the trial of two Indonesian domestic workers charged with murder in Singapore draws near, the Indonesian government has pleaded with the city state's authorities to spare them from the death penalty.

Juminem, 19, and Siti Aminah, 18, are facing the death sentence after confessing to killing Juminem's employer, Ang Imm Suan, in March last year.

They are being detained at the Changi Women's Prison, with their trial slated to begin on March 28.

The Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore Mochamad Slamet Hidayat said here on Thursday that a team of noted lawyers who are working pro bono will defend the maids at the trial.

"We are hoping that the sentences for Juminem and Siti can be reduced," Hidayat told a hearing at the office of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan).

The Indonesian Embassy had succeeded in helping another migrant worker, Sundarti Supriyanto, evade the death sentence earlier this year. She was given a life term for multiple crimes, including murder. This sentence is now also being appealed to a higher court.

Hidayat said Siti stood a great chance of escaping the death sentence as she was still underage when the killing occurred.

Singaporean lawyer Jimmy Yim said his defense argument would be based on reports that the defendants were "not themselves" at the time the crime was committed.

"We are going to argue that the defendants were suffering accumulated stress and humiliation and that they had medically lost their minds when committing the crime," Yim told the hearing.

Juminem, he said, was bullied by her employer, who made her work long hours from 7 a.m. to midnight seven days a week, and very rarely allowed her to go out.

For the first seven months of her contract, most of Juminem's salary was withheld by her agent, and she received only S$10 (US$5.80) per month.

In her diary, Yim said, Juminem wrote that her employer was initially nice, but later on became harsh, perhaps of cultural differences.

"After a while, the scolding increased, and Juminem was often hit. Towards the end of seven months, she wrote in the diary: 'I pray to God He will forgive me if I take revenge'," Yim said.

Juminem then asked her good friend Siti to help kill her employer. To disguise the murder as a robbery, both defendants took credit cards, checkbooks and over S$8,000 cash belonging to the employer, which were later stored at Siti's place.

"It won't be an easy defense, but we believe the two don't deserve to die. Juminem was suffering a lot in her mind and her heart. We will not lose hope," Yim said.

The trial of Juminem and Siti extended the long list of problems Indonesian migrant workers face in Singapore. Around 45,000 of them are domestic workers.

Many Indonesian migrant workers in Singapore have died after falling from high-rise apartments, committing suicide, or from illnesses or drug overdoses.

Hidayat said the problems had their roots back home, with the absence of coordination and control in the recruitment process, resulting in rampant identity fraud.

The workers sent are mostly young or even underaged, uneducated and unskilled, he said.

"The pressure of work and difficulty in adjusting to the new environment then caused psychological problems. They are also unaware of their own rights," he added.