Another Indonesian migrant worker has been executed in Saudi Arabia. The Indonesian government has claimed it made efforts to overturn her death sentence, including exhausting the right to three appeals and twice calling for a judicial review, although only one of these was accepted.
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Another Indonesian migrant worker (TKI) has been executed in Saudi Arabia. What is deplored is that the Saudi Arabian government did not provide any notification of the execution.
Tuti Tursilawati, a migrant worker from Majalengka regency, West Java, who worked as a domestic helper in Thaif in 2010, was found guilty of the premeditated murder of her employer. The judge issued the verdict in 2011.
The Indonesian government has claimed it made efforts to overturn Tuti’s death sentence, including exhausting the right to three appeals and twice calling for a judicial review, although only one of these was accepted.
Rights advocacy group Migrant Care stated that executing Tuti without notice was a kind of violation of migrant workers rights. The institution called on the Indonesian government and demand Saudi Arabia meet the terms of migrant worker protection as agreed in the memorandum of understanding on the one-gate system, which the two countries’ manpower ministers signed two weeks ago.
We can still recall how the government warmly hailed the arrival of Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud to Indonesia in March 2017. The visit should have been used as capital to push for improved diplomacy in protecting our migrant workers. If necessary, the government should have a special envoy to protect migrant workers, as Saudi Arabia has executed two Indonesian migrant workers this year, two others in 2015 and another in 2011.
According to the Foreign Ministry, 13 other Indonesian nationals remain on death row in Saudi Arabia, including Eti bin Toyib, who has been issued a final judgment. Migrant Care executive director Wahyu Susilo said that 19 TKI had received death sentences.
The death sentences of several TKI were successfully overturned and they were able to return to Indonesia.
We wish for the government to work harder to protect our migrant workers, especially female domestic workers. Female domestic workers, especially those working in a country with an extremely conservative culture like Saudi Arabia, are vulnerable to violence because of unequal employer-worker relations and gender inequality.
Migrant worker protection should be provided from the stage of local recruitment, especially against manipulation and fraud by middlemen. Potential TKI should be taught about their basic rights, including in cases of employer abuse and in the case of judicial processes.
Because of the many Indonesian migrant workers that have been given death sentences, the government should thoroughly evaluate the number and status of its citizens who work as TKI.
It should also review the TKI recruitment process and TKI exporting companies and hand down strict sanctions against any that fail to fulfill their obligations. We also want bilateral agreements between Indonesia and TKI destination countries to be implemented properly to secure the state’s presence in protecting its citizens.