Woman seeks justice from PT Jamsostek
JAKARTA (JP): A female migrant worker is demanding that state- owned workers insurance firm PT Jamsostek pay her Rp 25 million (US$3,333) for the blindness allegedly caused by an abusive Saudi employer four years ago.
Iis Sukarni, 42, made the demand at the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute on Wednesday.
Institute lawyer Surya Tjandra said the resident of Pemagarsari village in Parung district, Bogor, was entitled to the insurance payment for the disability she suffered.
Through tears, Iis explained that she arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Oct. 15, 1993.
The widow said she was picked up by her employer, identified only as Abdul Aziz, who took her to a vacant house.
"I was kept at the empty house for almost three months. I was frequently raped and also tortured if I refused him. Since he was a big man, I couldn't fight him," Iis, accompanied by her son Ade Bangun and her father Yahya Sobary, told The Jakarta Post.
One day in January 1994, she resisted when he tried to rape her again.
An irate Abdul slammed her head against a wall and beat her with a bottle until she became unconscious.
"I regained consciousness at the Tarhel quarantine facility for deportation. My eyes started to blur at that time."
She said she was deported in April 1994 after an Indonesian Embassy official gave her a travel document bearing the new name of Aisyah Muhamad.
"I tried to refuse the new document but the official forced me to accept it. My passport was held by my employer."
Iis said she was sent to Saudi Arabia by private manpower supplier firm PT Fahad Fajar Mustika, but the new document stated it was state-owned manpower supplier PT Binawan.
She recounted she was transported by ambulance upon arrival in Jakarta to the office of PT Binawan, which would not assist her because she was not one of its workers.
The ambulance driver drove her to her home in Parung because he felt sorry for her, she said.
She said she frequently contacted Fahad and Jamsostek regarding her grievance, and representatives of the two firms promised to process her report.
From a low-income family, Iis said she had asked the Bogor's social services office to cover medical treatment for her eyes.
"But I was rejected. A document stating I am poor was even torn up by the office's security guard."
She has given up on seeking government assistance.
"I have been completely blind since 1996."
The advent of the reform era raised her hopes of settlement. She brought her complaint before the National Commission on Human Rights in October.
The commission sent letters to related parties, including Fahad.
The firm countered that Iis' complaint could not be processed because four years had passed since the incident.
Fahad's president Makmun Hamid said on Wednesday the company had no record of Iis and she had left it too long to air her grievance.
"She said the incident happened four years ago. So the insurance claim cannot be paid," Makmun told the Post. (jun)