JAKARTA. The Indonesian Embassy in Damascus, Syria, has succeeded in rescuing an Indonesian migrant worker who had been living under the rule of the Islamic State (IS) movement in the group's de facto capital of Raqqa.
Sri Rahayu, 40, was successfully taken to a shelter in Damascus on March 12, following her evacuation through the Aleppo-Raqqa mountain. The clandestine journey took six days and risked the lives of both Sri and her rescuer.
She is now waiting to return to Indonesian soil with a number of other Indonesian workers who are also housed in temporary shelters in Damascus.
Indonesian Ambassador to Syria Djoko Harjanto said through an official statement from the embassy in Damascus that the success in protecting Indonesians in conflict areas was due to good cooperation among all relevant stakeholders.
"Without a strong connection between the Indonesian Embassy in Damascus, the Syrian government, and various public figures, it's impossible for us to protect Indonesians caught up in the Syrian conflict," Djoko said as quoted in a statement received by thejakartapost.com.
According to the statement, the embassy discovered that Sri was trapped in Raqqa in 2015. The officials then selected an officer from Sri's employment agency who knew of a safe land route through the mountain to pick her up.
During the escape, the officer and Sri claimed that they were a married couple in order to fool IS militants, who have imposed Sharia over their territory.
Sri, a native of West Nusa Tenggara, was sent off to Syria as a migrant worker, first to the city of Aleppo in 2011, and then later, after her contract ended in 2013, to a house in Raqqa.
She requested to return home as the Syrian conflict heated up, but her employment agency lied to her, saying that the Indonesian Embassy had closed down and there were no more flights to Indonesia.
Living under the Islamic State, Sri has witnessed the group's cruelty with her own eyes. She has seen decapitated heads line the roads, and she was forbidden from going outside by herself.
Indonesian consulate official AM Sidqi said that even though Sri had been living under the rule of IS, he was sure that she was not an IS supporter because she had undergone extensive screening.
"Just like other migrant workers, she is only concerned with her money and her return home,” said Sidqi.
Since the Syrian conflict escalated in 2011, the Indonesian Embassy in Damascus has repatriated almost 13,000 Indonesian migrant workers from Syria to Indonesia. (Marguerite Afra Sapiie)
