Parents plead to rights body to help free Nasiroh
JAKARTA (JP): A tearful Soleha, the mother of an Indonesian housemaid facing possible execution in Saudi Arabia, pleaded yesterday to the National Commission on Human Rights to help release her daughter.
"Please help the government (effort) to set Nasiroh free," Soleha said sobbing. She added she was sure that Nasiroh is not guilty of killing her employer as accused by an Islamic court in Saudi Arabia.
Soleha, Nasiroh's stepfather Herman, and Abas, the former chief of Nasiroh's village of Panyindangan in Cianjur, West Java, visited the commission accompanied by activists of the unrecognized Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI).
The 24-year-old Nasiroh is currently in jail in Gassim, Saudi Arabia. She has stood trial for allegedly shooting her employer in 1994; she claimed the man had repeatedly sexually assaulted her.
She is now awaiting a verdict on her case, and may face the death penalty if found guilty.
Commission member Albert Hasibuan said the organization had written to King Fahd through the Saudi Arabian embassy here appealing for a milder punishment for Nasiroh.
He did not say whether the commission had received any reply from Saudi Arabia, but added that it had also sent letters to the Ministry of Manpower and the office of State Minister of Women's Roles proposing to send a team to learn about the situation of Indonesian workers abroad.
"The commission hopes that the family of the victim will eventually forgive Nasiroh," Hasibuan said.
The Association of Labor Export Companies had earlier this week said it was setting aside a fund of Rp 2.5 billion (US$714,285) in case the victim's family was willing to take diyat (blood money) as a compensation, and drop charges.
There has been speculation, however, that the association was promising the money from the state-owned workers insurance company, PT Jamsostek. Hasibuan said the commission would help investigate where the money originated.
Separately, House Speaker Harmoko said yesterday that the House of Representatives would send an investigative team to Saudi Arabia to help the government negotiate a lighter sentence for Nasiroh.
The decision was made in a regular House leadership meeting presided over by Harmoko yesterday. Harmoko, however, failed to go into details as to who would assume the investigative jobs and when they would depart.
"Of course, the next measures will be conducted by the concerned House commission. They will be assigned to collect evidence and other data on the spot and from the government," he said.
"We hope our assistance will help the government find a way out of the case," he said.
Manpower affairs are under the auspices of Commission V chaired by Marzuki Achmad of the Golkar faction.
Harmoko said Indonesia should learn from the trial and execution of its female workers abroad. "In the future we should send only quality workers, instead of putting a halt to the export of workers," he said in response to some demands for a total halt in sending workers abroad.
Embarrassment
Separately in Surakarta, Central Java, political observer Amien Rais said on Monday that the illegal workers problem is an embarrassment for Indonesia.
"Besides the government as the most responsible party, the case has shown that the labor export company had neglected moral and ethical values," he said after attending the 39th anniversary of Muhammadiyah University.
Amien, who chairs the 28-million-strong Muhammadiyah Moslem organization, added that labor export companies only considered laborers as commodities.
He urged the government to take stern action against these companies.
The Ministry of Manpower became a target of great criticism following the execution of Solehah Anam Kadiran, another Indonesian worker convicted of murder, last month in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
Before the uproar over the execution died down, an even greater controversy arose following reports that around 10,000 workers were stranded there without proper documents and had to be picked up as Saudi Arabia was flushing out illegal aliens.
Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief pleaded to the public on Monday not to seek scapegoats, and that he was taking full responsibility over the matter.
"I am responsible for all workers sent there and for the adverse impacts that have emerged. I am sure that all these problems will eventually be solved," he said Monday.
He called against letting emotional outbursts get in the way of finding rational and logical solutions to the problem. He said the widespread criticism did not help any but made the situation worse.
"Illegal workers abroad are a reality," he said.
He also said he is studying Justice Minister Oetojo Oesman's proposal to ban Indonesians caught working illegally in Saudi Arabia from returning to that country.
"I am studying the proposal to see if it is possible to blacklist them, especially those who have been repatriated recently," Latief said. (09/amd/10)