Indonesian Maid in Saudi Hospital in Latest Abuse Case

Jakarta Globe | November 15, 2010

Indonesian migrant worker Sumiati binti Salan Mustapa after she was brutalized by her Saudi Arabian employers. (Photo courtesy of the Saudi Gazette)

Jakarta. Sumiati binti Salan Mustapa arrived in Saudi Arabia four months ago in search of a better life. Instead, the domestic worker is now in critical condition in the hospital, her body covered with injuries allegedly inflicted by her employers, including serious cuts around her lips and mouth.

Sumiati, 23, has been treated at King Fahd Hospital in Medina since last Monday. She was transferred to King Fahd after another hospital in Medina was unable to treat her injuries.

Miea Mirlina, an official at King Fahd, told the Saudi Gazette that Sumiati had suffered serious cuts to her lips and mouth from what appeared to have been a pair of scissors, as well as burns across her body. The burns are thought to have been inflicted by an iron.

The Indonesian is also unable to move one of her legs. Mirlina added that there were signs of older injuries on Sumiati's body that had already healed.

“She is in serious condition,” she said. “Her body shows that she was treated badly.”

Sumiati, who does not speak English or Arabic, arrived in Saudi Arabia in July 2010. She had a job as a domestic worker in Medina, earning 800 Saudi riyals ($210) a month. According to the Saudi Gazette, the abuse started shortly after she arrived. It reported that the wife and daughter of Sumiati's employer burned the Indonesian with an iron and beat her.

An Indonesian Consulate official involved in providing protection for Indonesian citizens in Saudi Arabia, Didi Wahyudi, urged Saudi authorities to act quickly in dealing with the case.

“We want justice for our worker,” he said. “The victim was not treated in an Islamic way and it is inhumane. This shows that the employer and his family is not responsible, and we will file a complaint.”

Anis Hidayah, director of the nongovernmental group Migrant Care, told the Jakarta Globe her group had been unable to get in contact with Sumiati.

“I've tried to seek confirmation from the Indonesian Embassy in Riyadh but to no avail,” she said, adding that she has run into the same problem in previous cases.

“No matter how many abuse cases happen to our workers in Saudi Arabia, the diplomats still stutter when asked for information,” she said.

She said the government needed to push Saudi Arabia diplomatically to address the issue of Indonesian migrant workers being abused there.

“The government must send a diplomatic protest note. This incident shows that the meeting between our foreign minister and the Saudi foreign minister did not mean anything because human rights violations are still happening,” she said.

“It was horrible torture that happened to our sister, Sumiati," Yudhoyono said during a cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday. "I want the law to be upheld and an all-out diplomatic effort.”

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An x-ray shows nails in a hand of L.T. Ariyawathi, 49, who returned to Sri Lanka after 5 months as a maid in Saudi Arabia, in a hospital in Matara, 160 km (100 miles) south of Colombo, August 26, 2010. A Saudi couple tortured Ariyawathi after she complained of a too heavy workload by hammering 24 nails into her hands, legs and forehead, officials said on Thursday. Nearly 2 million Sri Lankans sought employment overseas last year and around 1.4 million, mostly maids, were employed in the Middle East. Many have complained of physical abuse or harassment. (Credit: Reuters/Stringer)