Tale of two women

Two villagers with almost identical backgrounds were pursuing a common dream for a better life. Fate would have it that they underwent a traumatic experience that forced them to commit murder. Yet, they could not have met more different fates. One was quietly beheaded last month, and the other has just managed to escape the axe after a public outcry in Indonesia.

Soleha Anam Kadiran and Nasiroh Karmudin were two young women who joined the hordes of Indonesian villagers fleeing from rural poverty to try their luck in a far away foreign land: Saudi Arabia. They were among those who left through government- appointed labor export agencies to work in the oil-rich kingdom. Their presence in Saudi Arabia was legitimate, and they were eligible for the full support of the Saudi justice system.

It is hard to envisage why two simple villagers who were seeking a better life would want to destroy their dreams by committing murder. That is unless they had been provoked. Soleha's story was never told, and we will never know the truth. But our guess is that her story is not all that different from Nasiroh's, who committed murder in self-defense against unrelenting abuses from her Saudi employer, or employers.

But why should their fates be totally different?

Soleha's case only surfaced after she had been executed last month. Nasiroh would have met the same fate, had it not been for the public uproar here, and the subsequent diplomatic lobbying and the assistance of the Indonesian embassy in Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the wife of the victim in Nasiroh's case had decided to forgive her and asked the court to spare her from the death penalty. Nasiroh still needs to serve a five-year jail term and will go free in September next year.

Before news of Soleha's execution was first reported by the Saudi press, nothing was ever heard of her, or her case, in Indonesia. Even the Indonesian embassy in Riyadh learned of the execution from the Saudi press a day after it happened. The embassy said its officials had tried to contact Soleha during her police detention and subsequent trial, but to no avail.

Very few people in this country question the harsh Saudi penal system which is based on the strict application of Syariah, the Islamic law. Under this system, the punishment for murder is execution by beheading. As the world's largest Moslem country, most people in Indonesia do not quibble at the use of capital punishment, which after all, is also used in this country.

What provoked the public outcry was the fact that Soleha was executed, with little, if any, assistance from the Indonesian government, in this case, the embassy and the relevant consulate office in Saudi Arabia. It begs us to question the function of consulate officials, whose chief job is to protect the lives and interests of all Indonesians, irrespective of their social and economic backgrounds, abroad.

They should have made sure that Soleha was given full due process of law under the Saudi justice system, which includes counseling, legal defense and the right to appeal. This is standard procedure for any consulate, and they would not have been considered as interfering in the justice system of a foreign country.

It is a well known fact that foreign courts don't usually look too kindly on migrants who commit crime. This is what most likely happened to Soleha. A simple village girl, all alone in a foreign country and without anyone to turn to for help. She was tried and convicted in very unfavorable conditions.

Justly or unjustly, Soleha met her fate. We cannot turn the clock back. But we know she will find eternal justice in the hereafter.

Her death has not been for nothing though.

The subsequent public outcry led to the revelation of an another impending death sentence, that of Nasiroh. It brought protests, some directed at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Jakarta, and others at the Indonesian government. They were peaceful protests, and the Saudi embassy duly noted the concerns expressed. The Indonesian embassy and consulate officials in Saudi Arabia this time made no mistake and went to Nasiroh's assistance. The efforts paid off with the good news on Wednesday.

The moral lesson of this tale is that the smallest concern and attention, by the public, media or the government, could make a big difference, and could save a live, or lives.