Head of the National Agency for Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) Moh Jumhur Hidayat hailed Habibie`s mission to Saudi to help Tuti.
Jumhur told ANTARA via email that he had met BJ Habibie to convey his hope that the former president save Tuti.
Tuti is a migrant worker hailing from Cikeusik village, Sukahaji sub district, Majalengka District, West Java Province.
She had been dispatched to Saudi Arabia by PT Arunda Bayu on September 5, 2009, and had worked for the family of Suud Malhaq Al Utaibi in Thaif city.
Tuti was sentenced to death for the murder of her employer. According to reports, her employer abused her sexually during the time she was working for him. On 11 May 2010, he attempted
to rape her, but she hit him with a stick to defend herself, and he died as a result. She later fled with his fortune worth 31,500 Reals and his watch.
In a police questioning on May 18, 2010, Tuti, who was accompanied by a staff member of the Indonesian consulate general in Jidda, admitted about the murder and stealing.
Her father, Ali Warjuki alias Dudu, went to the BNP2TKI office in Jakarta on October 5, 2011, accompanied by activists from the Indonesian Migrant Workers Labor Union (SBMI), to urge the government to free Tuti from the planned beheading.
According to Jumhur, Habibie left for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday (Dec 24) and would be met by Maftuh Basyuni, the head of the Task Force on the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers in Riyadh.
BJ Habibie will meet a number of important figures including Prince Al Walid bin Talal Al Saud, a very influential businessman and a nephew of King Abdullah Bin Abdul Azis Al Saud.
On October 6, 2011, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent a letter to the Saudi King to ask for the King`s help in seeking forgiveness for Tuti from the victim`s relatives.
Tuti is a single parent with a six-year-old son. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
