The family of an Indonesian migrant worker in Saudi Arabia who has been missing for 16 years want the authorities to help find her.
Juwarih, the chairperson of the Indramayu Migrant Workers Union in Indonesia, said the union received a report from a citizen claiming his daughter had been missing for 16 years, Antara News reported.
In July 2002, Sarifah, then aged 33, was recruited by a local sponsor in her village and sent to Saudi Arabia. Her father Sodikin said his daughter was employed in the Saudi city of Jeddah by the company PT Khidmat El Kasab in Jakarta.
After working there for six months, she sent a letter to her family that included the names of her employers, but which ended up being the only piece of information her family ever learned about her job.
Sarifah’s relatives in Indramayu, West Java have over the years repeatedly informed her sponsor and recruitment agency that she has been missing.
The Indramayu Migrant Workers Union will be sending a letter to authorities, namely the National Agency for Placement and Protection of Indonesian Workers (BNP2TKI) and other government bodies, requesting assistance in the matter of Sarifah’s apparent disappearance.