The death of this 27-year-old of Siki village, Dongko subdistrict in East Java district of Trenggalek was revealed by Head of the district`s social welfare and workforce office, Coktro Nuranto.
"Saiyem`s body was still in Saudi Arabia. According to the country`s regulations, transporting the corpse may take two months," Nuranto told journalists here.
All the documents needed to take the corpse home were being sought by her family and PT Tri Tunggal Nuansa Primatama, the workforce recruitment company that had sent her to Saudi Arabia, he said.
In smoothing the process of bringing Saiyem`s body home, he said his office had directly informed the Indonesian ministry of manpower and transmigration in Jakarta.
Quoting the Indonesian Embassy in a recent letter in Saudi Arabia to late Saiyem`s family, Nuranto said her death was caused by a traffic accident there.
Saiyem died along with all others in a sedan driven by her employer after it collided with a truck on December 24, 2010. At that time, Saiyem sat in the back seat, he said.
Before the death of this domestic helper, Istiqomah, a migrant worker from Salamrejo village, Karangan subdistrict, Trenggalek district, was also killed in a traffic accident in Taipei, he said.
Asked about a compensation for the heirs of late Saiyem, he said he had yet to know about it when it had been given.
"The compensation is still in a process," he said.
The nature of the death of Saiyem and Istiqomah had nothing to do with acts of violence of their employers.
But, the protection of Indonesian migrant workers has become a crucial and sensitive issue over the past years.
In November 2010, the Indonesian people and government were shocked by the torture of Sumiati binti Salan Mustafa by her Saudi Arabian employer.
Besides the case of this 24-year-old house maid, there were also four other Indonesian workers who had badly been treated in Malaysia.
Siti Hajar was victim of her employer`s brutality but Michel, her Malaysian employer, remained free after appealing to the country`s higher court for her eight-year jail punishment.
Three other Indonesian workers were shot dead by the Malaysian police last March.
Saudi Arabia currently employs 927,500 Indonesian migrant workers, making it the second biggest user of migrant workers next to Malaysia.
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Editor: Bambang
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
