Parents plead to rights body to help free Nasiroh

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)