NU expects govt to allow only men to work in Saudi Arabia

Jakarta, NU Online
General Chairman of the Central Board of Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) KH Said Aqil Siroj greatly appreciated a moratorium on sending Indonesian workers to Saudi Arabia and expected the government to allow only men to work to Saudi Arabia.

Sirod made the remarks following a number of Indonesian workers threatened and even beheaded by the government of Saudi Arabia.

"I myself witnessed what they experienced because I studied there. Our workers working in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan have a better life than (those who are working) in Saudi Arabia," he said on the sidelines of  an inauguration of the new office of the Indonesian Muslim Workers Union (Sarbumusi) of Nahdlatul Ulama on Monday (23 / 1).

As reported two more Indonesian migrant workers, namely Neneng Sunengsih binti Mamih Ujan and Mesti binti Dama Idon, have been saved from execution in Saudi Arabia, according to the Indonesian Migrant Workers Placement and Protection Agency (BNP2TKI).

They left for home by Saudi Airlines from Jidda's King Abdul Azis airport on Thursday at 00.30 am local time and were expected to arrive at Soekarno-Hatta international airport, Cengkareng, near here, at 1.30 pm Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB), Lisna Yoeliani, BNP2TKI's deputy chief, said here on Thurday.

Lisna who is also a member of the Migrant Workers Protection Task Force said Neneng, native of Sukabumi, West Java, was freed under a warranty from her Saudi lawyer, while Mesi, also from Sukabumi, was freed following a pardon by Saudi King Abdullah.

Neneng was arrested by Al Jouf police in May 2011 for allegedly killing the female baby of her employer, Asraf Roja Al Rajan, for whom she had worked for 11 months. She was also accused of trying to escape.

The Indonesian embassy in Riyadh had appointed a Saudi lawyer, Naseer Al Dandani, to help free Neneng by convincing the judges that Neneng must not be blamed for the baby`s death because she was not a competent person to take care of a seriously ill baby.

There was no strong evidence that Neneng had killed the baby, while the Asraf family did not allow an autopsy on the baby's dead body.

According to Lisna, the Task Force's chairman, Maftuh Basyuni, when he was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on December 24, 2011, through the lawyer, urged the Saudi authorities to free Neneng from Al Jouf prison because there was no evidence that Neneng had killed the baby deliberately.

Mesti had left for Saudi Arabia in 2008 and worked for the Abdullah Dhoifullah Haji Al Rugi family.

In March 2011, Mesti was sentenced to death by the Saqra Public Court located around 250 km from Riyadh, following her confession that she had bewitched her employers. She, however, later retracted her confession saying that she had been pressured during the police interrogation.

After filing an appeal with the help of the Indonesian embassy in Riyadh, her death sentence was reduced to 10 year imprisonment and 500 lashes.

In early January 2012, Mesi was released by order of the Saudi King.

The government had recently managed to save two female migrant workers from execution in Saudi Arabia. They were Bayanah

binti Banhawi (29), and Jamilah binti Abidin Rofi`i alias Juariyah Binti Idin Ropi'i.

Bayanah arrived back in Indonesia on December 28 and Jamilah on December 29, 2011. (mkf)