Mien denies mentioning prostitutes in Saudi Arabia
Mien denies mentioning prostitutes in Saudi Arabia
JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Women's Roles Mien Sugandhi
has denied ever alleging that hundreds of Indonesian women had
been forced into prostitution in Saudi Arabia.
Instead, she accused the press of twisting her words in order
to set her against Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief, Antara
reported yesterday. "Some reporters contrived news so that it
sounded as if I said something, when I had not," she said.
Speaking before a seminar on women workers, Mien said she
would still go to check on the situation of Indonesian workers
abroad, including those in Saudi Arabia.
Earlier last week, the news agency had quoted Mien as saying
many Indonesian teenagers had been sent to work in Saudi Arabia
as prostitutes.
"Their number is not in the tens, but has already reached the
hundreds," Mien had reportedly said, adding that most of the
women were less than 20 years of age, came from poor villages and
were lured into working in red light districts in Jakarta before
being sent to Saudi Arabia.
She reportedly said that most of the women reached Saudi
Arabia by joining the hordes of other female workers dispatched
by government-supervised manpower exporting agencies to work in
the Middle-East kingdom.
Abdul Latief denied the reports, as did Saudi Arabian
Ambassador Abdullah Abdulrahman Alim who also reiterated that his
country observed strict rules of behavior.
Mien said yesterday that reporters had failed to quote her
complete statements and had fragmented her words so that they
became distorted.
"The way they quoted me was not right. They should have
written: Ibu Gandhi will go to several countries to meet Dharma
Wanita, Dharma Pertiwi, and Indonesian women, including workers,"
she said.
"Instead, they linked my statements with prostitutes," she
complained. "But let it all go... I'd better be quiet... I'm not
denying anything, what's important is that I'm still going
there."
"Fortunately the minister of manpower has understood the
problem. This must be some people's attempt to set us against
each other," she said. (swe)