P

otential suspects in the death of Adelina Lisao, 21, an Indonesian migrant worker who allegedly died as a result of severe abuse, face the death penalty, a senior diplomat has said.

Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia Zahrain Mohamed Hashim expressed his condolences on Adelina’s death in a written statement received by The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

In the statement, he said that the Royal Malaysian Police were currently investigating the case.

The police have detained the 36-year-old employer, her 60-year-old mother, and the employer’s 39-year-old brother.

The authorities, however, have yet to name them suspects.

“If they are proven to have caused the death, they will face the severest punishment, which is the death penalty,” said Zahrain.

“The Malaysian authorities will not compromise on such an issue.”

On Sunday, Adelina died in Bukit Mertajam Hospital after reportedly being tortured for more than a month and forced to sleep outside with the family’s Rottweiler dog.

Separately, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said that the Indonesian government had informed Adelina’s family in Timor Tengah Selatan regency in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).

Retno said the government was preparing to send Adelina’s body to her family. However, it was still awaiting results of a postmortem examination of the body before it could do so.

“We are waiting for the postmortem results before we can decide when to send the body back,” said Retno, adding that the results were also needed to prepare for the courts.

Retno said the government held compensation funds from Adelina’s recruiter and would give it to the family soon.

She, however, declined to reveal the amount, out of concerns for the security of Adelina’s family.

Separately, Adelina’s mother Yohana Banunaek said she first learned of Adelina’s death on Tuesday from her pastor.

She said she had reported her daughter’s recruiter to the Timor Tengah Selatan Police for faking Adelina’s identity so that she could work in Malaysia.

However, she added, she did not know the recruiter although she had met him when he asked permission to take Adelina to Malaysia.

Yohana and her husband had refused but one day they found that Adelina had gone missing.

“We do not know the name of the recruiter. We once looked for her [Adelina] but no one knew. We thought that she had run away with that man,” she said.

“My daughter’s documents were all counterfeited so that she could be sent to Malaysia.”

According to her, Adelina’s name is Adelina Sau and she is from Ebi village, Oenino district in Timor Tengah Selatan regency.

However, in the document, it is stated that her name is Adelina Lisao and from Tanah Merah village, Kupang Tengah district in Kupang regency.

“Her birth year was also changed. She was born in 1998 but it was changed to 1992,” Yohana said, adding that Adelina was 17 years old when she flew to Malaysia in August 2015.

Yohana said that now she only wanted Adelina’s body to be sent back to the family, and that the recruiter would be punished.

Timor Tengah Selatan Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Totok Mulyadi confirmed that the family had filed a police report on document falsification.

“The report was filed on Tuesday and we have launched an investigation into the case,” he said.

“We will summon witnesses to question them on the falsification of Adelina’s documents.”