Villagers mourn workers' death, seek explanations

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Sama Samili did not think when he saw his daughter Sumiyati off at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in September last year that it would be their last meeting.

The 23-year-old woman who worked as domestic helper for a rich family in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was reportedly killed in the middle of October in a traffic accident and her body was buried in a public cemetery in the presence of the Indonesian labor attache there.

Sumiyati's father regretted having asked his daughter to work in Saudi Arabia, but said that the family had decided not to have her body repatriated.

"If I knew she would die in such a manner I wouldn't have let her go to the Middle East. This compensation of US$4,000 is no consolation for our loss," he said on Thursday after receiving the fund from Paramitra Bersama Foundation, which insures Indonesian workers in the Gulf countries.

Samili said that Sumiyati's two-year work contract in Saudi Arabia was supposed to help the family raise funds to set up a small business, and repay an expensive loan to an usurer.

"It was our dream," said Samili who works as a farmer with a weekly income of around Rp 300,000 (about US$300) in his hometown in Karawang, West Java.

Sumiyati's departure and employment were sponsored by labor recruitment company PT Bahtera Tulus Karya, which confirmed her death many weeks after she was buried.

A similar fate also befell Watem, another migrant worker who died of cancer. Her body was not sent home, raising suspicion among her relatives.

"I was shocked when I was informed that she had died of cancer because she was in a good health when she underwent a medical checkup a few days before her departure on June 16, 2004," Muhammad Sabar, Watem's wife, said.

He said his family had no objection to his wife being buried in Saudi Arabia, but felt the government should seek an official report on her death.

Watem worked as a domestic helper sponsored by PT Amri Margatama with a gross monthly salary of Rp 1.25 million and died on July 25, 2005.

Sabar, a resident of Karangjati Village in Cilacap, Central Java, said he had not received a cent from his wife from her employment in Saudi Arabia, while he needed money to bring up their only son Noval who is still a toddler.

Sainah, a 26-year-old worker from Indramayu, West Java, was also killed in a traffic accident on Sept. 18, 2005 and was also buried in Saudi Arabia.

Talim Wartalim, Sainah's father, said his family had accepted her death, but they were waiting for an official report on the accident and his daughter's salary for the year she was employed there.

He was grateful for the insurance money, saying it would be used to set up a fish farm in his home village.

Wahyu Susilo, an activist from non-governmental organization Migrant Care, expressed suspicion over the deaths of the three workers, saying there were no official reports from the relevant authorities in Saudi Arabia.

"Due to the large number of Indonesian citizens working as domestic helpers in Saudi Arabia, although many have been abused and raped and many deaths have been reported the incidents have not been thoroughly investigated," he said.

He said that dozens of workers returned home annually with serious injuries after experiencing physical abuse, while dozens of others died without and were buried there without any investigation being conducted.