Fatima Muhammad

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH – There are 690 Indonesian domestic helpers at present at shelters in Riyadh and Jeddah. They are either the victims of torture or sexual abuse or unpaid wages.



Despite the efforts of their mission and the involvement of police and courts, their cases remain unresolved.



In one such shelter inside the Indonesian consulate premises in Jeddah, some 90 domestic helpers are waiting for their agony to end.



Some have been staying here over three years, said Tatang Razak, Indonesian Foreign Ministry’s chief for legal aid and the protection of Indonesian overseas workers.



The shelter has several rooms where beds are kept next to each other. There are lockers in each room for the occupants. A room has been allocated for reading and is also used as a mosque.



Each woman in the shelter had a different story to tell, but they all share the same agony and an uncertain future. In the basement of the shelter, a group of women was seen preparing food: plain rice with chicken. Other women from the shelter were seen helping consulate employees organize paperwork for people seeking to rectify their status.



Among the women resting at the shelter is Sumiati BT Salan Mustapa, the domestic helper who is said to have been tortured by her sponsor in Madinah back in 2010. Her story made headlines in major newspapers at that time.



Sumiati is now working at the consulate. The scars of surgery are visible on her face. She is awaiting judgement on her case, and hopes that the judge is “fair” when tackling her case.



Officials at the consulate said that they have hired a new lawyer for Sumiati because the old lawyer was not conducting as per the expectations.



The occupants of the shelter include those who were not paid their wages for several years.



In broken Arabic, they told Saudi Gazette that they trusted their employers who said that their salaries are being saved in banks but they were never given their hard-earned money. They are still waiting for courts to consider their cases.



“I worked for 19 years in Makkah with my sponsor. He paid me only for seven years of work. I am still waiting for the court to help me get back my wages,” said a domestic helper, insisting that she will not go back to Indonesia unless she gets her money back.



In fact, many occupants of the shelter insist that they will not leave unless they get their due.



Another housemaid claimed that she had not been paid for the past 14 years. Her case is complicated, explained officials, because her sponsor is dead.



Another housemaid at the shelter has been waiting to go home after she was proven not guilty by a court after the father of her sponsor accused her of conducting black magic. After spending a month in prison she was released.