East Java Governor Urges Ministry to Stop Sending Migrant Workers

TEMPO.CO, Surabaya - East Java Governor Soekarwo, suggested that the Manpower Ministry should stop sending Indonesian migrant workers in the informal sector to the Middle East as Middle Eastern countries have no regulation to protect workers.

According to Soekarwo, migrant workers being sentenced to death or waiting for execution for comitting crime is not a matter of diplomacy between countries. Instead, Soekarwo asserted that it is more about the binding regulation in those countries because whether migrant workers will be executed or not depends on forgiveness from the victims' family.

If the victim's family is willing to forgive the person sentenced to death, that person can be repatriated to his/her home country. "However, if the family refuses to extned forgiveness, even money cannot stop the death sentence," Soekarwo said.

According to Soekarwo, what the government can do right now is encourage Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, to negotiate with the family of the victims so that 18 Indonesian migrant workers from East Java that are still waiting for execution can be returned home to Indonesia. "This is no longer about diplomacy. The government must persuade Saudi Arabia to negotiate with the family," Soekarwo said.

Soekarwo continued that during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration, East Java had tried to repatriate migrant workers sentenced to death abroad by following the steps proposed by the Manpower Ministry. "We even paid some money. However, because the law in Middle East requires the consent of victim's family, it did not work," Soekarwo said.

Saudi Arabia recently executed two Indonesian migrant workers, Siti Zaenab from Bangkalan and Karni from Brebes, while there are around 18 migrant workers from East Java that are waiting to be executed.

MOHAMMAD SYARRAFAH