Worker remains unburied?

Based on information from our sources, our client's daughter, Chosiah binti Hosnan, an Indonesian from East Java working in Saudi Arabia, was killed by a local 11 months ago. However, her family members learnt of her death from the Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah only four months ago.

A letter from the Abu Sarhad labor recruitment firm affiliated to PT Amri Margata, said her body had been in a Saudi morgue for seven months, meaning that the body was unburied for 11 months. Strangely, we have not received any formal news from either the Indonesian government via the Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah or from the Saudi government stating our client's cause of death.

We thank the Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah for giving approval to fly the body home after we finally had obtained the necessary papers, including those from the police, autopsy reports and other papers from the Indonesian foreign ministry there. Acquiring these documents proved to be complicated due to the inability of the Indonesian Consulate General to directly contact related institutions there.

Perhaps owing to state sovereignty, matters pertaining to bilateral relations are always conducted through the foreign ministry.

Yet this matter will only be settled if the Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah does something and the Saudi Government is cooperative.

My questions are: Where has the equality between the two friendly states gone? Is the Saudi government too reserved or are the Indonesian representatives there incapable of seeking the truth and justice in a country where many Indonesians work?

Should we leave the family members in a state of uncertainty?

As Muslims, we should not make things difficult, particularly for those in mourning. Regarding the cause of death and its settlement, the bereaved only asks that this be handled by the courts and the Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah.

We have sought assistance from the labor ministry, the foreign ministry and the Riyad and Jeddah Indonesian representative offices and the State Ministry for the Empowerment of Women. All these attempts have failed, among others because the Cabinet was undecided at the time.

We appeal to all related institutions to defend the rights and justice of the weak, who must resort to trying to earn a living in another country.

ARIFIN MOH NUR MADJID SH

Jakarta