Nirmala Bonat, a 23-year-old migrant worker who escaped her employer in May, 2005, after being abused, returned home on Thursday.
She arrived in Kupang, the provincial capital of East Nusa Tenggara, aboard a Malaysian airline after stopovers in Jakarta and Denpasar.
Upon her arrival at El Tari airport she was accompanied by Malaysian-based Indonesian labor attache Teguh Hendrochayono (left) and local Indonesian labor exporter association chapter head Paul Liyanto (right).
"I feel happy to be back on Timorese land. I look forward to seeing with my parents and relatives. ... I'll do business in my home village. The President promised me a job, but Iknow wherebe employed," she said before meeting vice governor Frans Leburaya.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with Nirmala at the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur during his state visit to the country last week.
Following her abuse Nirmala underwent intensive medical treatment, including several skin graft surgeries in Malaysia. She also testified before a Kuala Lumpur court trying her employer Yim Pek Ha as the principal defendant in the abuse case.
Paul said he would take Nirmala to her home village in Tuapakes, 200 kilometers east of Kupang, Friday to meet her family. -- JP
