Indonesia's labour minister Muhaimin Iskandar said her 'neck had been slashed and she had severe cuts to the rest of her body.'4
Anis Hidayah, executive director of a local NGO Migrant Care, said she allegedly was 'sexually and physically abused before her death.'10
This comes only a few days after news emerged that another Indonesian maid, Sumiati binti Salan Mustapa, 23, from Dompu in West Nusa Tenggara,6 was admitted to a hospital unconscious after being tortured by the wife of her employer.5
Sumiati said she was mistreated by the daughter and frequently beaten severely and burned with hot iron by the wife.5
Her injuries were so severe that she needed to be transferred from a private hospital to King Fahad Hospital to receive the required care.5
Miea Mirlina from King Fahad said
"her body was burned on many places, both legs were almost motionless, some parts of her skin on her head were removed and strong marks of old wounds were on her body including skin loss on lips and head, a fractured middle finger and a cut near an eye. Her body shows how badly she was treated."5Didi Wahyudi, head of the citizen service and protection task force of the Indonesian Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, said concerning the attacker that6
"She was jealous of Sumiati who is young and beautiful so she tortured her"6Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Indonesia, Abdulrahman Al-Khayyat, claimed what happened to Sumiati was "a very rare case."10
This claim has been described as "deceitful" by Anis, who said his organization has recorded 5,563 allegations of abuse this year in Saudi Arabia, including 1,090 physical abuse, 3,568 poor working conditions and 898 sexual and nonpayment of salary cases.10
Saudi Arabia calims 'foreign workers' rights are protected under Islamic law'4 but Amnesty International's Malcolm Smart said "legal climate of impunity that allows employers to exploit, enslave, abuse, assault and injure their domestic workers with virtual impunity" exists in the Gulf states and has called for it to end.2
Human Rights Watch also said workers in Saudi Arabia have few rights and that the 'abuse is systemic' but is "hidden" in people's homes.4
There has been outrage in Indonesia over the abuses with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono saying the murder of Kikim was "beyond inhumane"4 and calling Sumiati's abuse an "extraordinary torture."3
AFP however added that,1
Indonesia's outrage at the abuse of Sumiati stands in contrast to its muted official response to widespread allegations of torture by its own security forces against peaceful political activists and other detainees.1
Human rights groups accuse the Indonesian military of killings, murder, torture and abuse of Papua's ethnic Melanesian majority and separatists in the Maluku islands.1
In the latest incident, soldiers were caught on video torturing Papuan civilians earlier this year but no one has been held responsible.1 [Hyperlink added]
Sources: 1. 2. AFP, 3. 4. BBC, 5. Saudi Gazette, 6. 7. 8. The Jakarta Globe, 9. 10. The Jakarta Post
Comment: Things to note here are the inadequacies of 'Islamic law', the hypocritical outrage among some Indonesians, 'denialism' by the Saudis and another hint of a possible underlying culture of violence in sections of those societies.
The abuse cases indicate that 'Islamic law' is open to abuse here, just as it was in the case of the Pakistani blasphemy law which has been criticized as being open to false allegations by those wishing to settle scores. This no doubt was exactly what happened to Asia Bibi who maintains her death sentence was a result of false accusations by Muslims with whom she had an argument over grossly offensive insults by them based on religion.
As the unknown AFP writer (Why was the name hidden? Are Saudis and Indonesians or the authorities in those countries that vindictive? Does it show something else too?) correctly pointed out, many or most Indonesians and Muslims in general get outraged if some alleged or actual wrong is done to them, but are not concerned about the crimes committed by those on their side, such as the occupation of West Paupa by Indonesia which has already killed a fifth of the population there. There is hypocrisy and double standards here. It might be that such Muslims are not hypocritical, but are supremacists who do not view non-Muslims as equal and so are not outraged when crimes are committed against them.
The Saudi ambassador's denial, of the maid problem is the same as the denial, aka Taqiyya, of Islamic terrorism and other problem by Muslims. The denial here might have something to do with protecting the so-called 'honor' or 'sensitivities' in PC newspeak. But the truth is that such lying will only bring dishonor and make things worse by hiding the real problem and not dealing with it.
And this from an article previously posted here
In August, another Sri Lankan, T. Ariyawathi, returned to Sri Lanka with 24 nails in her arms, legs and forehead, and claimed her Saudi Arabian employers nailed them as punishment. Saudi authorities however have questioned the credibility of her allegations.Given the recent new revelations, Ariyawathi's case should be revisited and the credibility of the Saudi authorities who investigated her claims questioned.
The jealous wife torturing Sumiati looks similar to the burning of Coptic Christian homes in an Egyptian village a few days ago by young Muslim men over claims of a secret meeting between a Muslim girl and a Christian boy there.
Finally, these cases of abuse, when combined with other evidence, such as 'honor killings,' sexism, cruel sharia punishments, terrorism, lack of freedom and numerous other examples that can be seen on daily news, might indicate there might be some underlying violence in those Islamic cultures that needs to be addressed. The usual approach of 'isolated' or 'micro-context' explanations do not take this into account this bigger picture. The thing to notice is not how or why each problem arises but to see the big picture and recognize that it happens in those groups and do so regularly and quite predictably. It is the clouds that are the problem and trying to catch each raindrop with a bucket to stop the rain is not a solution. Sooner or later it will still rain, somewhere, somehow, for some reason.
Similar or related stories:
Video shows barbaric torture of Black Papuans by Indonesian occupiers in West Papua where genocide has already killed a fifth of the population
Employer in Jordan allegedly forced Sri Lankan maid D. M. Chandima to swallow nails in the 3rd recent such case
Kuwaiti employers accused of hammering 14 nails into Sri Lankan house maid Lechchami
Was race a factor in the murder of a Black man treated like a slave by the homosexual Saudi prince?
Deadly dysfunctional Muslim culture, past, present, future, and why democracy and modernization fail
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