Indonesian migrant worker brutalized in Saudi Arabia

Indonesian migrant worker brutalized in Saudi Arabia

Luh Putu Trisna Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara

A 15-year-old Indonesian domestic helper can be added to the
growing list of migrant workers brutalized or murdered during
employment overseas.

The resident of Sebok village, Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara,
who cannot be named to protect her identity, returned home last
week suffering severe depression after nine months of torture in
Saudi Arabia.

The victim, now locked away in a mental hospital in Mataram,
Lombok, told relatives that her Saudi employer repeatedly
attempted to rape her, beat her head against a wall when she
refused and was locked in a room and fed just one meal a day for
a month.

The girl's neighbor, who requested anonymity, said the girl's
mental trauma was due to her mistreatment.

"She even attempted to escape her workplace but was captured
and forced to work again ... until she started exhibiting mental
imbalances."

The employer dismissed the girl and though he paid for her
return to Indonesia, refused to pay all her entitlements.

The source said the girl's condition deteriorated upon her
return. She became angry, damaged all the furniture in her
parents' house and attempted to climb the walls of the house.

Her parents locked her legs between two pieces of wood for two
days but later took her to the hospital in Mataram, where she was
still undergoing intensive treatment, the neighbor said.

Endang Susilowati, the director of Panca Karsa Association,
which is providing advocacy for the girl, called on the
government and the company that sent her overseas, PT Alfira, to
take responsibility for the victim.

"The government should demand PT Alfira account for the
incident and the alleged falsification of the victim's age. The
victim is only 15 but her age was marked up to 30 in attempts to
win approval from Indonesian authorities to work overseas.

"We call on the Minister of Manpower and Transmigration (Jacob
Nuwa Wea) to take action against the labor export company located
at Jl. Salemba Tengah (Jakarta)," he said.

The company could not be contacted last night.

Endang said the case was just one of the numerous examples of
appalling abuse handed out to Indonesian women overseas.

Several migrant workers from the province had returned home
with children born during their employment.

Indonesians, particularly women, suffer terribly at the hands
of their employers, particularly in the Middle East, Malaysia and
Singapore.

Endang said she had delivered a letter to Alfira's office in
Jakarta, which had been ignored. She said the victim's family was
in need of money to cover her treatment costs.

Endang called on the government to review labor export
procedures to protect workers.

She said the Panca Karsa Association had dealt with 37 cases
where migrant workers had suffered mental health issues during
their employment overseas.

The province earns an estimated Rp 1 billion per day in
foreign exchange earnings from a total of 69,000 locals working
overseas.