| January 17, 2008 09:42 AM |
JAKARTA, Jan 17 (Bernama) -- President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked the Foreign Affairs Ministry to lodge protests through diplomatic notes to countries that treat Indonesia workers improperly, Antara news agency reported.
"If suspicious circumstances befall Indonesian workers abroad, the foreign ministry should lodge a note of diplomatic protest," the president said at a press conference after a cabinet meeting at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry here on Wednesday.
The president also asked the Forestry Ministry and Manpower Ministry to continue communicating with the families of Indonesian workers involved in legal problems at their workplaces overseas.
"Make sure that the rights of those having problems overseas are respected. Justice must be upheld," he said.
Referring to the case of Yanti Iriyanti, an Indonesia house maid who was executed in Saudi Arabia last Friday, the president said Saudi law could change a sentence if there was a pardon from the victim's family members or from a certain institution.
But it turned out that there was no pardon given by the victim's family, he said. Yanti was found guilty of murdering her employer after she tried to steal her employer's jewellry, according to reports in Saudi Arabia.
Earlier in the day, Gino, Yanti's husband, together with their two children and a number of activists from non-governmental organization "Migrant Care" failed to meet the president at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry. The activists left the ministry at 12 local time even before the president gave the press conference.
At the ministry, the president was holding a cabinet meeting which was also attended by Vice President Jusuf Kalla and a number of ministers such as Chief Political, Legal and Security Minister Widodo AS, chief Economic Minister Boediono, State Enterprise Minister Sofjan Djalil, Forestry Minister MS Kaban, Cooperative and Small-and Medium Enterprises Minister Suryadharma Ali and National Education Minister Bambang Sudibyo. During the meeting the president received reports on the performance of the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration in 2007 and its 2008 work plan.
-- BERNAMA
