Refleksi: Berapa banyak TKW Indonesia mengalami seperti wanita Sri Langka di 
Arab Saudia?


http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=67450&d=25&m=7&y=2005

Monday, 25, July, 2005 (18, Jumada al-Thani, 1426)


      Police Free Sri Lankan Maid From Virtual Prison
      Mohammed Rasooldeen, Arab News 
        
      RIYADH, 25 July 2005 - A Sri Lankan housemaid who essentially had been 
imprisoned and unpaid by her sponsor for the last six years will be heading 
home soon thanks to the detective work of Saudi police.

      Authorities handed over Shanthi Menike Herath to the Sri Lankan Embassy 
here yesterday following her rescue from a Saudi home near the Kuwait border, 
some 800 km from the capital.

      Shanthi Menike, 42, who hails from a rustic village in the district of 
Kurnegala, 70 km from the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, was virtually 
imprisoned for the past six years in a remote suburban household.

      Although she was prevented from leaving the residence, she reported no 
abuse, and family members at the home actually had tears in their eyes when she 
left.

      The Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh reported the situation to Saudi 
authorities after officials in Colombo passed on word of a complaint from her 
22-year-old son alleging that his mother was in distress at her workplace and 
had not corresponded with her family for more than three years.

      "I came here in June 1999 to earn some money to educate my three children 
since my husband was sick," Shanthi Menike said, recalling that her husband 
developed heart problems following an industrial accident in Sri Lanka.

      Shanthi Menike said her sponsor prevented her from sending letters to her 
family and kept her within the four walls of the house without any outside 
contact.

      "Due to my persistent efforts, the sponsor gave me his mobile phone to 
call home for a few minutes, and I made use of that opportunity to inform my 
relatives that I was in a virtual prison and requested them to pursue action 
from Colombo to rescue me from this troubled home," Shanthi Menike said.

      Shanthi Menike had no complaints of ill-treatment; however, she said her 
sponsor once tried to assault her when she tried to flee the house. "I had 
enough food to eat, and there was no harassment whatsoever. But the workload 
was heavy since there were 10 children in the family," she said.

      Throughout the six-year period, the sponsor paid her only SR4,000 in cash 
and purchased her gifts worth SR3,000, which she wants to retain. After 
deducting these payments, she said her sponsor is in arrears to her in the 
amount of SR22,000.

      P.R.L. Wickremesinghe, second secretary (labor) at the Sri Lankan 
Embassy, said it was a herculean task to find the sponsor since neither the 
mission nor the maid's family had the location of her sponsor.

      "The police helped a great deal in tracking the evading sponsor," 
Wickremesinghe said, adding that embassy officials were successful in getting 
his mobile telephone number, which eventually helped the police to locate her 
workplace.

      The diplomat said the interesting part of the whole rescue operation was 
that the sponsor's wife and children were in tears when the maid was leaving 
their house. "She seemed to have won the hearts of all the family, and the 
children were practically begging the maid not to leave their home for good," 
Wickremesinghe said.

      After police mediation, the sponsor has agreed to pay SR9,000 within a 
week. The balance SR13,000 is to be paid within three months from the date of 
the maid's repatriation to Colombo.

      Currently under the custody of the Sri Lankan Embassy, Shanthi Menike 
will be repatriated shortly to Colombo on receipt of the partial payment of her 
accumulated salary arrears, the official said.

      More than 70 percent of the 350,000 Sri Lankan workers in the Kingdom are 
housemaids.

     
        


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