Only weeks after the officially sanctioned murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia has ignored the entreaties of the world’s largest Muslim country and executed an Indonesian maid for killing the employer she always claimed was trying to rape her.
President Joko Widodo was reportedly furious that the Saudi Arabian government had again given no prior notice of the October 28 execution, despite the maid’s fate being high on the agenda during a recent visit to Jakarta by Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.
Widodo, who twice sent letters to Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz seeking leniency for Tutu Tursilawati, is unlikely to change his solicitous approach to Saudi Arabia, mindful of the quota system that has allowed more than 1.1 million Indonesian haj pilgrims to make the spiritual journey to Islam’s holiest sites since 2012.
But Migrant Care, a nongovernmental organization advocating the rights of the millions of Indonesians working abroad, wants the government to reverse a recent decision to let a limited number of migrant workers to return to a country that has taken on pariah status since Khashoggi’s grisly killing.
Three years ago, Jakarta banned workers from going to Saudi Arabia and 20 other Middle Eastern countries in response to a string of abuse cases. But human traffickers and the workers themselves have found ways around the moratorium.
Critics warned at the time that without genuine efforts to sign and enforce international labor conventions, including the right of workers to change jobs, the ban would only drive the trade underground and expose them to even greater risks.
For many Indonesians long used to the abuse of their maids and other migrant workers in the Middle East, it beggars belief that a devout 33-year-old Muslim mother of three children from a small village in West Java would resort to murder without a compelling reason.
Tursilawati was sentenced to death in 2010 for a crime she committed only nine months after arriving in the Saudi city of Thaif. She became the fifth Indonesian maid to be executed in Saudi Arabia over the past decade, leaving another 18 Indonesians on the country’s death row.
Saudi authorities also failed to notify Indonesia of the execution last March of Indonesian migrant worker Zainal Misrin, who was denied the right to legal counsel in his trial for the alleged murder of his employer in 2004.
Human rights groups claim executions have accelerated since the rise to power of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the so-called reformist widely believed to have ordered Khashoggi’s death in a bungled operation that destroyed his efforts to soften Saudi Arabia’s image.
Lagging behind only China and Iran, Saudi Arabia has carried out 458 executions by beheading and firing squad over the past three years, including the January 2016 mass execution of 47 Islamic extremists convicted of home-grown terrorism.
Ironically, while Riyadh provides little economic aid to Muslim nations, it spends billions of dollars spreading puritanical interpretations of Sunni Islam that have been used as ideological justification for terrorist acts in Indonesia and elsewhere.
Apart from terrorism, Saudi Arabia prescribes the death penalty for murder, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking, using what Human Rights Watch calls a “notoriously unfair criminal justice system” where the evidence is often scanty at best.
Indonesia’s nine million migrant workers, about half of them documented and now mostly concentrated in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, send back about US$8-9 billion a year in remittances, making them one of the country’s highest foreign exchange earners.
Labor migration contributes directly to improving lives and also in building the skill level of the domestic work force, which the World Bank says should be incorporated into a broader job creation strategy.
It was only during the previous Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono presidency – and through the efforts of foreign minister Marty Natalagawa – that the government began to follow the Philippines’ lead in providing protection to its overseas workers.
But women, who comprise about 70% of the total, remain prone to exploitation, extortion and physical abuse at the hands of their employers, particularly in the sexually-repressed societies of the Middle East.
They are not immune from abuse in Asia either. In a landmark case in 2015, only a year after Widodo took office, a Hong Kong beautician was jailed for six years on 18 charges of causing grievous bodily harm to an Indonesian domestic worker she had treated as a virtual slave.
To be sure, Indonesia has a poor record itself with the National Commission on Violence Against Women recording 421 national and regional regulations which currently discriminate against women. In 2016, it says 259,159 women across the country were subject to domestic violence and rape.
Indonesia stands on shaky ground with the application of the death sentence as well. Although there have been no executions in the past two years, 44 offenders have died before a firing squad since 2000, including four women, two of them Indonesians convicted separately of murder and drug trafficking.
Saudi Arabia is the worst human right violators in the world with the US support. They even dissolve dead humans in acid. What is next? It is time to stop these barbaric acts. They are not human beings.
Saudi Arabia is the worst human right violators in the world with the US support. They even dissolve dead humans in acid. What is next? It is time to stop these barbaric acts. They are not human beings.
Why only Saudi Arabia is under the microscope? Who else don’t murder their opponents and rivals? At least KSA makes its executions public and on clearly published crime and offence list. Other all the countries Including the big heads have more stunning records of killing for intolerance or religion or against state mechanisms. Now that it is widely accepted that it is Halal to kill people on sovereign state grounds! But microscope is on Saudi Arabia because it is a Muslim state and lt is a leader of the Muslim countries. Is it because the religion Islam is spreading for its ideological supremacy? Now, the number of people believing in Islam and Muslim population worldwide have reached more than one third of the world population inspite of worldwide suppression and denying human rights against the Muslims. Look for your own country’s records and affairs and state management activities and then shout against Saudi Arabia and others. Having said that I am not defending KSA and not even supporting such activities on state level BUT, my friends, SAUDI ARABIA IS NOT ALONE. Treatment must be fair and equal for all the countries, what do you say? When you talk for records you must have that guts to look into your own sleeves first before you open your lips or hold a pen to write down or compose on you computers the most venomous speech with much selective English language wordings. Say it for all the countries NOT only for the Muslim countries. It is only one world we have to live in. No better place to go.
Why only Saudi Arabia is under the microscope? Who else don’t murder their opponents and rivals? At least KSA makes its executions public and on clearly published crime and offence list. Other all the countries Including the big heads have more stunning records of killing for intolerance or religion or against state mechanisms. Now that it is widely accepted that it is Halal to kill people on sovereign state grounds! But microscope is on Saudi Arabia because it is a Muslim state and lt is a leader of the Muslim countries. Is it because the religion Islam is spreading for its ideological supremacy? Now, the number of people believing in Islam and Muslim population worldwide have reached more than one third of the world population inspite of worldwide suppression and denying human rights against the Muslims. Look for your own country’s records and affairs and state management activities and then shout against Saudi Arabia and others. Having said that I am not defending KSA and not even supporting such activities on state level BUT, my friends, SAUDI ARABIA IS NOT ALONE. Treatment must be fair and equal for all the countries, what do you say? When you talk for records you must have that guts to look into your own sleeves first before you open your lips or hold a pen to write down or compose on you computers the most venomous speech with much selective English language wordings. Say it for all the countries NOT only for the Muslim countries. It is only one world we have to live in. No better place to go.
No China is. Detaining more than 1m Uighurs and has the the highest execution rate in the world.
KSA is horrible, but China is worse
No China is. Detaining more than 1m Uighurs and has the the highest execution rate in the world.
KSA is horrible, but China is worse
1/3 ? No more like 1/5, but as someone who believes in a pedo’ who flew to heaven on a winged goat, dont let reality intrude in your life.
1/3 ? No more like 1/5, but as someone who believes in a pedo’ who flew to heaven on a winged goat, dont let reality intrude in your life.
You are entitled to your opinion but keep within the norms of decency. Nobody has the right to use derogatory language against the Prophet of Islam or against any prophet or religious personality for that matter. When you run out of rational and logical arguments then you stoop low to name calling and verbal abuse. Let’s act like mature grown ups. Keep the dialogue decent and avoid hurting the sentiments of people’s faith and beliefs
You are entitled to your opinion but keep within the norms of decency. Nobody has the right to use derogatory language against the Prophet of Islam or against any prophet or religious personality for that matter. When you run out of rational and logical arguments then you stoop low to name calling and verbal abuse. Let’s act like mature grown ups. Keep the dialogue decent and avoid hurting the sentiments of people’s faith and beliefs
Thanks Ali for your stance. What else you can expect from them who just try to brand others with utter disgust and derogatory statements per their intent and worth…. Not a penny more not a penny less!!!
Thanks Ali for your stance. What else you can expect from them who just try to brand others with utter disgust and derogatory statements per their intent and worth…. Not a penny more not a penny less!!!
OK let’s be rational. Do you think porking a 9yo girl is ok ?
Do you have a daughter, sister, cousin (or maybe your Mum is underage) and you’d be ok with a 52yo man porking them ?
Do you think Mo’ rode to heaven on a winged pony ? Do you think it was ok for him to lie, cheat and murder too ?
These are not insults, these stories about Mo’ are in your Koran and Haddiths. Or do you think they lie too ?
OK let’s be rational. Do you think porking a 9yo girl is ok ?
Do you have a daughter, sister, cousin (or maybe your Mum is underage) and you’d be ok with a 52yo man porking them ?
Do you think Mo’ rode to heaven on a winged pony ? Do you think it was ok for him to lie, cheat and murder too ?
These are not insults, these stories about Mo’ are in your Koran and Haddiths. Or do you think they lie too ?
Yashad Rizvi : Hi there! Who do you call a pedo, I don’t know if you know your own family history or your own social structures then just some few hundred years ago!
Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) case may be you know is almost 1500 years old and the social practice then was to get the girls married out within six to ten years of the girls age. You check the history of the Indian subcontinent and adjoining Afro-Asian countries where similar young and underage marriages were very normal and well accepted by the girls’ families and usual celebrations would be held to augment the occasions. There was nothing wrong with prophet’s (pbuh) marrying Ayisha (may Allah be pleased with her) at her eight years of age and nobody did call it a rape or what you prefer to say a paedophile activity. Not even the girls families nor the then leaders of the societies and communities (Hindu, Muslim, Christians etc) nobody had any objection instead the marriages were greeted and encouraged without any recourse. I am sorry I have no idea as to what part of the world your family belonged in those days few hundred years ago and your span of social customs centuries ago. May be you will be amazed to see that your ancestors were also in fact practicing child marriages per local customs but we surely would not call our ancestors as rapists or whatsoever. Not Surprisingly, my mother narrated that she was married at her age of nine and she was told by my grandmother that she was married to my grandfather at her seventh year and that my great grand mother was married at eight only. Similar practice was prevalent in those days centuries ago and there are many historical novels and records that approve this practice. No Hindu Muslim or Christian families in our countries will call their ancestors as RAPISTS or PEDOPHILES. May be you are from the developed world and have different style of free living so you have difficulty in realising the age old practice and respect that practice for millions of people let alone Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). In case your research reveals that your ancestors had the same sort of family practice, please don’t call them RAPISTS OR PEDOPHILES! Have a good day!
Yashad Rizvi : Hi there! Who do you call a pedo, I don’t know if you know your own family history or your own social structures then just some few hundred years ago!
Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) case may be you know is almost 1500 years old and the social practice then was to get the girls married out within six to ten years of the girls age. You check the history of the Indian subcontinent and adjoining Afro-Asian countries where similar young and underage marriages were very normal and well accepted by the girls’ families and usual celebrations would be held to augment the occasions. There was nothing wrong with prophet’s (pbuh) marrying Ayisha (may Allah be pleased with her) at her eight years of age and nobody did call it a rape or what you prefer to say a paedophile activity. Not even the girls families nor the then leaders of the societies and communities (Hindu, Muslim, Christians etc) nobody had any objection instead the marriages were greeted and encouraged without any recourse. I am sorry I have no idea as to what part of the world your family belonged in those days few hundred years ago and your span of social customs centuries ago. May be you will be amazed to see that your ancestors were also in fact practicing child marriages per local customs but we surely would not call our ancestors as rapists or whatsoever. Not Surprisingly, my mother narrated that she was married at her age of nine and she was told by my grandmother that she was married to my grandfather at her seventh year and that my great grand mother was married at eight only. Similar practice was prevalent in those days centuries ago and there are many historical novels and records that approve this practice. No Hindu Muslim or Christian families in our countries will call their ancestors as RAPISTS or PEDOPHILES. May be you are from the developed world and have different style of free living so you have difficulty in realising the age old practice and respect that practice for millions of people let alone Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). In case your research reveals that your ancestors had the same sort of family practice, please don’t call them RAPISTS OR PEDOPHILES! Have a good day!
Rafiqul Islam If any of my ancestors porked a girl who pre-pubescent I would call them a pedophile just like Mo’.
It was the practice to marry girls under 10, but then only consumate the marriage after menstruation (13-4). But Mo’ seems to have thought differently. Even Abu Bakr was abit taken aback.
And as for marrying his step-son’s wife.
But what about riding to heaven on a winged horse, splitting the moon. Or the other evil things he did.
He does not stand up as a good man, either then or now.
m’s of people are too scared to leave the cult of islam
Rafiqul Islam If any of my ancestors porked a girl who pre-pubescent I would call them a pedophile just like Mo’.
It was the practice to marry girls under 10, but then only consumate the marriage after menstruation (13-4). But Mo’ seems to have thought differently. Even Abu Bakr was abit taken aback.
And as for marrying his step-son’s wife.
But what about riding to heaven on a winged horse, splitting the moon. Or the other evil things he did.
He does not stand up as a good man, either then or now.
m’s of people are too scared to leave the cult of islam
Ay, they behead people like drug dealers (I have no problem with that), kiss the b-hinds of KSA, then whinge when their young ladies are treated badly.
But that’s Indon Mohammedans for you.
Ay, they behead people like drug dealers (I have no problem with that), kiss the b-hinds of KSA, then whinge when their young ladies are treated badly.
But that’s Indon Mohammedans for you.