Indonesia Stops Sending Maids to Saudi Arabia

Indonesia said it will stop sending domestic workers to Saudi Arabia until the 2 countries can do more to protect the hundreds of thousands of Indonesian maids and other migrants that work there.

The announcement comes in the wake of a national outcry in Indonesia over the surprise execution of Ruyati binti Sapubi, an Indonesian maid who was convicted of murdering her Saudi employer. Indonesian diplomats said they weren't notified before Ms. Sapubi was beheaded with a sword in Mecca on Saturday.

Indonesia's move is indicative of a growing awareness in labor-exporting countries like Indonesia, India and the Philippines about the risks their citizens face while working in richer countries overseas. Some countries, like Indonesia, are starting to demand more protections from countries that heavily rely on their citizens to handle the lower-skilled jobs their own residents don't want to do.

In the latest case, Indonesia's Ministry of Manpower said on Wednesday that from August it will freeze the flow of domestic workers to Saudi Arabia for now.

"The government has decided to impose a moratorium for Indonesian migrant workers to Saudi Arabia from Aug. 1 until a memorandum of understanding between the 2 countries for the protection of Indonesian workers is signed," the ministry said on its website. More than one million Indonesians work in Saudi Arabia, most of them as domestic laborers.

Efforts to seek comment from Saudi Arabian officials weren't immediately successful.

The treatment of Indonesia's army of overseas workers has become a hot political issue in the giant Southeast Asian country. While it depends heavily on the more than $7 billion its more than six million migrant workers send home each year, Indonesia is indicating a growing willingness to block workers and take the hit in remittances if it believes its workers are being abused. Officials in the Philippines, another major source of overseas labor, have also expressed concerns.

"Another critical matter that we need to address as we embrace the new era of social justice is the plight of migrant workers," Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in a speech to a gathering of the International Labor Organization this month. "We in Indonesia call these migrant workers 'economic heroes' due to their hard work and selfless devotion to the welfare of their family back home."

Mr. Yudhoyono said Indonesia and other labor-rich countries want their citizens to be given minimum wages, regular holidays and a safe working environment.

There were similar calls to end the flow of labor late last year after a spate of reports of alleged maid abuse and even murder in Saudi Arabia. In one series of reports and photos that triggered protest rallies in the Indonesian capital, a 23-year-old maid's employer allegedly abused her by beating her, cutting her lip with scissors and burning her back with an iron.

A similar spate of abuse news convinced Indonesia to ban maids from going to Malaysia in 2009. Indonesian officials said hundreds complain in Malaysia every year of mistreatment, overwork and unpaid salaries.

2 years later, the 2 countries have reached an agreement to restart the flow of maids after Malaysia prosecuted some offenders, including a woman who was sentenced to eight years in prison for scalding her Indonesian housemaid with hot water and assaulting her with scissors and a hammer.

Indonesian government officials concede the country still needs remittances from workers overseas, as well as an outlet for its giant unskilled labor force. Indonesia has the world's fourth-largest population after China, India and the U.S. They have also indicated they understand that with millions of its citizens abroad, there are bound to be some that are abused.

But the government has become less willing to ignore the reports as Indonesia's domestic economy has boomed in recent years and the country's international stature has grown. Attention on the issue continued with Ms. Sapubi, who was arrested in January 2010 and was sentenced after confessing to murder, the Associated Press reported, ading that she is the 2nd Indonesian maid to be executed in Saudi Arabia since 2008.

Source: Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2011

_________________________

Use the tags below or the search engine at the top of this page to find updates, older or related articles on this Website.

Comments

Singapore executes three drug mules over two days

Singapore hanged three people for drug offences last week, bringing the total number of executions to 17 this year - the highest since 2003. These come a week before a constitutional challenge against the death penalty for drug offences is due to be heard. Singapore has some of the world's harshest anti-drug laws, which it says are a necessary deterrent to drug crime, a major issue elsewhere in South East Asia. Anyone convicted of trafficking - which includes selling, giving, transporting or administering - more than 15g of diamorphine, 30g of cocaine, 250g of methamphetamine and 500g of cannabis in Singapore will be handed the death sentence.

Florida | After nearly 50 years on death row, Tommy Zeigler seeks final chance at freedom

The Winter Garden Police chief was at a party on Christmas Eve 1975 when he received a phone call from his friend Tommy Zeigler, the owner of a furniture store on Dillard Street. “I’ve been shot, please hurry,” Zeigler told the chief as he struggled for breath. When police arrived at the store, Zeigler, 30, managed to unlock the door and then collapsed “with a gaping bullet hole through his lower abdomen,” court records show. In the store, detectives found a gruesome, bloody crime scene and several guns. Four other people — Zeigler’s wife, his in-laws and a laborer — lay dead.

Louisiana death row inmate freed after nearly 30 years as overturned conviction upends case

A Louisiana man who spent nearly 30 years on death row walked out of prison Wednesday after a judge overturned his conviction and granted him bail. Jimmie Duncan, now in his 60s, was sentenced to death in 1998 for the alleged rape and drowning of his girlfriend’s 23-month-old daughter, Haley Oliveaux — a case long clouded by disputed forensic testimony. His release comes months after a state judge ruled that the evidence prosecutors used to secure the conviction was unreliable and rooted in discredited bite-mark analysis.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Vietnam | Woman sentenced to death for poisoning 4 family members with cyanide

A woman in Dong Nai Province in southern Vietnam was sentenced to death on Thursday for killing family members including two young children in a series of cyanide poisonings that shocked her community. The Dong Nai People's Court found 39-year-old Nguyen Thi Hong Bich guilty of murder and of illegally possessing and using toxic chemicals. Judges described her actions as "cold-blooded, inhumane and calculated," saying Bich exploited the trust of her victims and "destroyed every ethical bond within her family."

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

Utah | Ralph Menzies dies on death row less than 3 months after his execution was called off

Judge was set to consider arguments in December about Menzies’ mental fitness Ralph Menzies, who spent more than 3 decades on Utah’s death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has died. Menzies, 67, died of “presumed natural causes at a local hospital” Wednesday afternoon, according to the Utah Department of Corrections. Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker’s son, said Menzies’ death “was a complete surprise.” “First off, I’d say that I’m numb. And second off, I would say, grateful,” Hunsaker told Utah News Dispatch. “I’m grateful that my family does not have to endure this for the holidays.”

Iran carries out public hanging of "double-rapist"

Iran on Tuesday publicly executed a man after convicting him of raping two women in the northern province of Semnan. The execution was carried out in the town of Bastam after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, the judiciary's official outlet Mizan Online reported. Mizan cited the head of the provincial judiciary, Mohammad Akbari, as saying the ruling had been 'confirmed and enforced after precise review by the Supreme Court'. The provincial authority said the man had 'deceived two women and committed rape by force and coercion', adding that he used 'intimidation and threats' to instil fear of reputational harm in the victims.

Kuwait | New Anti-Drug Law Introduces Death Penalty, Surprise Testing, and Strict Enforcement

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 26: Divorce rates in Kuwait are rising, with recent statistics indicating that addiction—particularly among wives—has become a significant contributing factor. In response, authorities are preparing to introduce surprise premarital drug testing as part of a broader set of reforms under Kuwait’s new drug law. The countdown has officially begun for the enforcement of this new legislation, which was drafted by a judicial committee formed by the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Fahd Al-Yousef. The committee is headed by Counselor Mohammed Rashid Al-Duaij.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog