Indonesian MPs criticize Riyadh over worker’s execution

By Pizaro Gozali

JAKARTA

Indonesian lawmakers have criticized Saudi Arabia for executing a migrant worker without notifying the Indonesian authorities beforehand and said the Kingdom “violated” diplomatic ethics and international custom law such as the 1963 Vienna Convention.

"It is the custom of the international community that if any government executes a citizen of any other country, they have to notify the concerned country," said Charles Honoris, a member of Commission I of the House of Representatives.

Tuti Tursilawati was one of 16 Indonesian nationals on death row in Saudi Arabia. She was arrested in 2010 and sentenced to death in 2011 on charges of murdering her employer which she claimed was done in self-defense to protect herself from sexual abuse.

Charles has also asked the government to continue the moratorium on sending migrant workers to troubled countries like Saudi Arabia, whose human rights protection is very low.

In 2015, domestic workers were barred from going to 21 countries, mostly in Middle East, after Saudi Arabia executed two domestic workers in one week on murder convictions.

He hoped the Indonesian government will encourage the destination countries for Indonesian migrant workers to have strong regulations regarding the protection of migrant workers.

Another House member, Syaifullah Tamliha, has called on government to lobby the kingdom to sign memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Mandatory Consular Notification (MCN) or consular notification agreement.

“The government should push Saudi Arabia to sign the MoU on MCN so that such incident will not happen ever again,” said the Member of Commission I in a written statement released on Friday.

By Pizaro Gozali

JAKARTA

Charles has also asked the government to continue the moratorium on sending migrant workers to troubled countries like Saudi Arabia, whose human rights protection is very low.

In 2015, domestic workers were barred from going to 21 countries, mostly in Middle East, after Saudi Arabia executed two domestic workers in one week on murder convictions.

He hoped the Indonesian government will encourage the destination countries for Indonesian migrant workers to have strong regulations regarding the protection of migrant workers.

“The government should push Saudi Arabia to sign the MoU on MCN so that such incident will not happen ever again,” said the Member of Commission I in a written statement released on Friday.