According to Indonesian Consul General in Johor Bahru Sigit Suryantoro Widiyanto, Dewi had been repatriated before a video footage showing her confession of having received physical abuse from her employer went viral.
Dewi came from Medan City, North Sumatra Province. She entered Malaysia on June 15, 2023. Without having proper working visa, she was then employed as a domestic worker, he said in a statement here Saturday.
All of a sudden, she ran away from her employer by claiming that she had fallen victim to her employer's acts of violence. Her escape was confirmed by a CCTV footage.
Despite the confession she had made, she apparently did not belong to a "vulnerable group" owing to the absence of signs of physical abuse on her body, Widiyanto said.
When running away from her employer, she carried "an amount of money", he said, adding that the Consulate General officials had attempted to ask her about her employer's name and address.
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They also strived to dig deeper into persons who had helped her enter Malaysia and get employed. However, they did not get any necessary information from her, instead of her request for an immediate repatriation.
Regarding the repatriation, Widiyanto said the Indonesian Consulate General issued a travel document in lieu of a passport (SPLP) for Dewi on July 17.
The SPLP was issued following the Malaysian Immigration authority's approval while Dewi had also paid a fine of Rp100 ringgit for overstaying her visa, he said.
On July 18, the Malaysian police received a report filed by Dewi's employer who alleged her to have stolen 10,000 ringgit.
ANTARA reported earlier that regarding cases of violence against Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia, the death of 21-year-old Adelina Sau, a migrant domestic worker from Abi Village, South Central Timur Sub-district of East Nusa Tenggara, had shocked the Indonesian public in 2018.
Adelina died of indications of fatigue, anemia, lack of food intake, and inhuman torture by her employer. She was found helpless on the foyer of her employer`s house in Permai Town Park area, Bukti Mertajam, Penang, Malaysia.
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Translator: Virna PS, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Copyright © ANTARA 2023
