TEMPO.CO, Kupang - Damaris Neonufa, an Indonesian worker from Mio Village, East Nusa Tenggara, is reported to have died in Malaysia for unknown reasons. Her corpse is still held in Malaysia.
“The corpse has yet to be sent [back home], we can’t do anything,” a spokesperson for her family Elias Z. F Neonufa told reporters on Friday, October 7, 2016. Damaris was recruited illegally by a person with initials AB in September 2012, signing a contract that ended in 2015. However, at the end of her contract, she was sent back illegally to Malaysia to work as a slave labor before her death.
Damaris’ identifying documents were forged and her father Marten Neonufa claimed she was duped by the employment agent. The agent lured Damaris with high wages, convincing her family to let her go. “But reality says otherwise, she was sent illegally [to Malaysia],” he said.
Damaris' death has added to the long list of migrant workers from NTT who died in Malaysia to 34 people, 25 of whom were illegal workers.
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