TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-Ima Matul Maisaroh, 36, a woman from Malang, East Java has received a letter from the US Democratic National Committee on Saturday asking her to give a speech in front of thousands of delegates in the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, United States, on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 local time.
In the convention, the Democrats will officially nominate Hillary Rodham Clinton for president and Senator Tim Kaine for vice president ahead of the November election. “In addition to speaking about my experience as a victim of human trafficking, I will convey Hillary’s programs to mitigate slavery and human trafficking,” Ima said Sunday, as qoted by Indonesian Lantern.
Ima will give a speech in the prestigious convention due to his reputation and achievement. Ima, who went to an islamic boarding school in Gondanglegi, Malang is one of the expert staff of President Barack Obama. She has been a member of the US President’s Consultative Council with 10 others since 2015. Together with three other members, Ima is trusted to handle two out of five main issues of the victims of human trafficking. “In funding and dissemination [of information] regarding the victims,” she said.
Before taking the post as an expert staff, Ima was a coordinator of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST). The non-profit organization had helped her to escape abuse committed by his former employer in Los Angeles.
Ima’s story as a victim of slavery dates back to 1997. Ima, who was 17, received an offer to work as a domestic worker for a Los Angeles-based Indonesian interior designer. Ima had often received abuse from her employer before she eventually managed to escape. She became a rights activist of the victims of slavery.
Anis Hidayah of Migrant Care, a worker rights activist, was hopeful that Ima could convey a number of issue on human trafficking in her speech. “I hope he can reiterate the commitment of states to fight against trafficking, including the United States and Indonesia,” Anis said yesterday via WhatsApp messaging service. “Trafficking is an extraordinary transnational crime and it should become a concern for all developed countries.”
REZKI ALVIONITASARI | SUKMA LOPPIES
