Undeterred by sickening tales of abuse, Indonesian women are lining up to work as maids in Saudi Arabia where in just a few years they can achieve an almost unthinkable dream — financial independence.
Most think they will be treated well by fellow Muslims in the land of the Islamic holy places, despite the repeated cases of Indonesian women being subjected to physical and mental violence by their Saudi employers.
One recent example was so shocking it prompted Indonesia to summon the Saudi ambassador and send a ministerial delegation to the kingdom. Sumiati Binti Salan Mustapa, 23, remains in hospital in Medina after her employer, a Saudi woman who has since been arrested, allegedly beat her causing internal bleeding and broken bones, scalded her head with an iron and slashed her with scissors, leaving her horribly disfigured and traumatized.
PHOTO: AFP
Earlier last month the beaten body of another Indonesian, Kikim Komalasari, 36, was found near Abha. Two people, her employers, have been arrested in that case.
Labor activists and rights groups have said the latest incidents highlight the paucity of protection for millions of mostly Asian domestic workers in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.
However, the Saudi-bound women at a training course outside Jakarta dismissed them as isolated episodes, and said they were confident their future employers would treat them well.
“Torture can happen in any country, not just Saudi Arabia. Nobody can predict a person’s fate. I only pray for the best,” trainee maid Dian Utari said.
The 25-year-old has already done a stint as a factory worker and waitress in Malaysia, but found she spent too much of her wages on living expenses.
“It’s better to work as a domestic help. I don’t need to spend money on rent or food since I’ll live in the employer’s house. So I can save more to build a house in Indonesia in the future,” she said.
Another maid, 22-year-old Muslika, said: “The news did scare me but I’ll work hard, be patient and pray that God will protect me from crazy bosses.”
Like Utari, Muslika hopes to save most of her future monthly salary of 800 Saudi riyals (US$213) to buy a house and open a clothing boutique when she returns home.
For similar work with a family in Indonesia she would earn only about US$80 a month.
“My elder sister also worked in Saudi and she’s having an easy life now. She can afford a house, a grocery shop, even a paddy field,” Muslika said.
About 70 percent of the 1.2 million Indonesians working in Saudi Arabia are domestic helpers, officials said. Despite their humble origins, rudimentary education and low wages, Indonesia’s expatriate maids and, on the male side, construction workers, are major contributors to the country’s burgeoning economy.
The government works with recruitment agencies to prepare maids with simple courses of two to three weeks, involving basic Arabic lessons and instruction on how to cook biryani spiced rice and iron Saudi men’s headscarves.
At one session in Jakarta, the maids cracked up laughing when a trainer gave them the following advice: “When your Saudi employers tell you to naum, they mean go to sleep. Please don’t mistake it for minum [drink] in Indonesian, and start drinking lots of water.”
Mariah Mursyid, 44, said the four Saudi employers she had served over the past 17 years had treated her kindly, paying for her to do perform the hajj three times.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
CHINESE ICBM: The missile landed near the EEZ of French Polynesia, much to the surprise and concern of the president, who sent a letter of protest to Beijing Fijian President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere called for “respect for our region” and a stop to missile tests in the Pacific Ocean, after China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Katonivere recalled the Pacific Ocean’s history as a nuclear weapons testing ground, and noted Wednesday’s rare launch by China of an ICBM. “There was a unilateral test firing of a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. We urge respect for our region and call for cessation of such action,” he said. The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, was launched by the
As violence between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Iran is walking a tightrope by supporting Hezbollah without being dragged into a full-blown conflict and playing into its enemy’s hands. With a focus on easing its isolation and reviving its battered economy, Iran is aware that war could complicate efforts to secure relief from crippling sanctions. Cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, has intensified, especially after last week’s sabotage on Hezbollah’s communications that killed 39 people. Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon followed, killing hundreds. Hezbollah retaliated with rocket barrages. Despite the surge in
RSS