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Media reports may harm effort to save Satinah
Hereâs what we did: The Foreign Ministryâs director general for the protection of Indonesian workers, Tatang Razak (left), Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto (center) and former leader of the special task force on the protection of Indonesian workers Maftuh Basyuni speak to the media about government efforts to save murder convict Satinah from execution in Saudi Arabia
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Hereâs what we did: The Foreign Ministryâs director general for the protection of Indonesian workers, Tatang Razak (left), Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto (center) and former leader of the special task force on the protection of Indonesian workers Maftuh Basyuni speak to the media about government efforts to save murder convict Satinah from execution in Saudi Arabia. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama) (left), Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto (center) and former leader of the special task force on the protection of Indonesian workers Maftuh Basyuni speak to the media about government efforts to save murder convict Satinah from execution in Saudi Arabia. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
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span class="inline inline-none">Here's what we did: The Foreign Ministry's director general for the protection of Indonesian workers, Tatang Razak (left), Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto (center) and former leader of the special task force on the protection of Indonesian workers Maftuh Basyuni speak to the media about government efforts to save murder convict Satinah from execution in Saudi Arabia. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
Reporting from various media outlets may be complicating the government's efforts to secure the release of Satinah, an Indonesian migrant worker on death row for murdering her Saudi employer.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto said the family of Satinah's victim in Saudi Arabia was offended by media reports that portrayed the migrant worker as a victim.
'We're not blaming the media [for complicating the matter], but there were a number of statements, even from public figures, which portrayed Satinah as innocent. This has agitated the victim's family,' said Djoko on Tuesday.
One such report accused the victim's mother of abusing Satinah, which offended the family to the extent that the blood money negotiations almost collapsed.
The victim's family had said it would grant clemency if Satinah ' convicted of killing her employer Nura Al Gharib and stealing 37,970 Saudi riyal (US$10,124) from her home in Gaseem, Saudi Arabia, in July, 2007 ' provided the blood money, or diyat.
The victim's family initially requested the payment of 15 million riyal in 2011, but then reduced it to 10 million riyal the following year and today the amount required is 5 million in a single payment and 2 million in installments.
Due to intensified media exposure, the family then declined payment of the diyat.
Two weeks ago, according to Djoko, the government sent a task force led by Maftuh Basyuni, former Indonesian envoy to Saudi Arabia, an Indonesian Military (TNI) officer and an official from the coordinating ministry, to deliver a third letter from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, reassuring the victim's family that the government did not stand by the media reports on Satinah. The victim's family members relented and negotiations
resumed.
Maftuh, a former religious affairs minister, said Satinah would eventually be spared from the execution, thanks to the President's letter and his team's intensive lobbying.
'It was the toughest negotiation we've ever gone through. After lobbying back and forth, we finally saw the [victim's] family agree to our terms. Now we need only wait for them to conclude their internal discussions,' said Maftuh.
The government had already deposited the 7 million riyal for the diyat, and with the help of a clemency council, persuaded the family to agree on the terms. They in turn requested more time to come to an official decision, pushing back the case for another one or two months.
Satinah's beheading has been postponed three times since she was sentenced to death in August 2011.
In his statement, Maftuh also lashed out against Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar, who criticized the task force for being incompetent in lobbying for the release of Satinah, due to the language barrier.
'Even if I can't speak Arabic, I was accompanied by our ambassador [to Saudi Arabia], who dreams in Arabic,' he said.
Foreign Ministry director for legal aid and the protection of Indonesian nationals abroad Tatang Razak said Indonesian nationals spared from the death penalty reached 184 people worldwide. Satinah would be the 49th person in Saudi Arabia to be freed if she is granted clemency. (tjs)
