SBY claims govt cares about migrants on death row

JAKARTA. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Wednesday that the public had mistakenly interpreted the issue of migrant workers facing the death penalty, as he made a new plea to the Saudi Arabian government to save an Indonesian migrant worker from being beheaded in the kingdom.

“I understand if the people are angry, but sometimes they do not receive the clearest information. When Indonesian citizens face convictions by accountable courts [abroad], it seems [the people perceive] them as not guilty,” Yudhoyono said during a limited Cabinet meeting exclusively held to discuss issues related to migrant workers on Wednesday.

“People should know whether [or not] we will continue to bear the tens of billion rupiah [in diyat or blood money],” he continued.

According to Yudhoyono, most Indonesian citizens facing the death penalty were those related to murders, robberies and drugs abuse.

Yudhoyono made the statement a week ahead of the deadline to pay the blood money to save Satinah binti Jumadi Ahmad, a 41-year-old Central Java native convicted of killing her employer Nura al-Gharib and stealing 37,970 riyals (US$10,124.7) from her in Saudi Arabia in July 2007.

The family of the victim will grant her clemency if she provides the 7 million riyals in diyat, equal to $1.86 million.

The Foreign Ministry said although it would advocate for the release of Satinah, who had confessed her guilt, the government would not use state funds for recompense in criminal cases. The government has so far raised 4 million riyals from donations.

The government will also send a team to Saudi Arabia to lobby community leaders in Saudi Arabia so Satinah, the mother of one, can be spared death, while offering a new plan to save Satinah from execution, which has been postponed three times since a high court sentenced her to death in August 2011.

Activists have called for the enhancement of protection for workers abroad, particularly in terms of raising legal awareness and comprehensive legal protection.

Yudhoyono claimed he had tried his best to handle the issue for almost 10 years, adding that as of March, the government had secured the release of 176 convicts on death row and was seeking to free 246 more.

“So, it’s a big mistake if people say the government does not care [about the issue],” he added.

Yet, the blood money continued to rise from time to time and last year, the Foreign Ministry revealed that they had found indication of blood money brokers.

Darsem binti Daud from Subang, West Java, was freed by paying 2 million riyals in 2011, while Hafidz bin Kholil Sulam from Sampang, East Java, was released after paying 400,000 riyals to the family of his own uncle, whom he killed in 2009. (Ina Parlina)