Indonesia Wednesday said it protested to Saudi Arabia the execution of an Indonesian house worker, without being noticed in advance.
President Joko Widodo said the government lodged a complaint with the Saudis over the execution on Monday of Tuti Tursilawati, AFP reported.
The Indonesian leader also said his country requested better protection of Indonesian workers in the country.
The foreign ministry condemned the act as it complained that it was not informed beforehand.
“The execution of Tuti Tursilawati was done without notification to our representatives, either in Riyadh or Jeddah,” said Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, director at the foreign ministry’s Indonesian citizens’ protection department, at a press conference.
Tursilawati, condemned seven years ago for killing her employer, was, according to the Indonesian foreign ministry, executed in the city of Thaif.
The Indonesian house worker reportedly told the judiciary then that she acted in self-defense because her employer allegedly wanted to rape her.
A civil society group, Migrant Care advocating for the rights of Indonesian workers abroad, urged the government to take diplomatic actions against the Saudi kingdom.
The execution took place three years after the Asian country decided to ban the recruitment of its citizens in 21 countries in the Middle East. The ban was put in place after two Indonesians were executed the same year.
Jakarta however has still allowed a limited number to work in Saudi Arabia.
Indonesian house workers also are recruited in the other parts of Asian continent including Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia where Jakarta has also complained about bad treatments on its citizens.
A Hong Kong woman was jailed for six years for beating and starving her Indonesian maid and keeping her prisoner, in a high-profile case that drew attention to the abuse of domestic helpers in the financial hub, AFP reports.
