MALAYSIA URGED TO HANDLE FAIRLY GANG-RAPE CASE AGAINST INDONESIAN MIGRANT WORKER

 By Andi Abdussalam

    Jakarta, Nov 12 (ANTARA) - Malaysia has to take immediate steps to process fairly an alleged gang-rape by three Malaysian policemen of an Indonesian migrant worker in Pulau Penang so that the case would not trigger public outrage in Indonesia.  Besides, the Indonesian government should also monitor the handling of the case to ensure that the perpetrators would be prosecuted, and if they are  found guilty, the should receive the severest punishment.
        "The Indonesian government should provide assistance and monitor the case because the victim is an Indonesian citizen. The monitoring by the government is needed to ensure that the rapists are taken to court," Hikmahanto Juwana, an international law observer of the University of Indonesia (UI), said here on Monday.
         The latest case could trigger another public outrage in Indonesia like what happened in the past when incidents such as maid abuses, extortion, violence and shooting  befell Indonesian migrant workers or citizens in Malaysia.


         The Indonesian government should be able to prevent the repetition of the same incident against its citizens in Malaysia in the future. The Indonesian government should have the initiatives to invite the Malaysian government to discuss the matter.
         "The main problem that they should discuss is the way how to prevent the Malaysian citizens and apparatuses from humiliating and disdaining the dignity of the Indonesian citizens in Malaysia," Hikmahanto said in a written statement to ANTARA on Monday.
         Hikmahanto was reacting to the report on the gang-rape case by three Malaysian police officers of an Indonesian migrant worker.
         Earlier, a 25-year-old immigrant worker from Central Java, Indonesia, identified as SM, claimed that she was raped by three Malaysian Police officials. The rape allegedly happened at 6 am when the local police were interrogating SM and some of her friends in connection with their work permits.
         "They did not accept the photocopy of my passport and took me to their office," she said.
          SM stated that she requested the police to release her, but they refused. Later, she added, the three officers let her go after raping her.
          "After raping me, they brought me back to Indrawasih Park, Perai, in a police car. Then, they threatened me to not tell anyone about all that happened," she explained. However, SM, accompanied by her friend, reported the incident to the office of MCA Politics Party (Malaysian Chinese Association). Later, the matter was picked up by the local media in Malaysia.
          According to Hikmahanto, humiliation of the dignity of the Indonesian citizens in Malaysia was mainly caused by the fact that many migrant workers in that country worked as domestic helpers.
         Hikmahanto said that so far the Indonesian government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration had been responsive to the gang-rape issue over the Indonesian migrant worker in Malaysia.
         The foreign ministry and the Indonesian embassy in Malaysia had promised to monitor and provide assistance so that the Malaysian authorities would prosecute the alleged rapists.
         "Because the incident took place in Malaysia, Indonesia, based on the international law, could not prosecute the perpetrators. The Indonesian government should respect Malaysia's legal sovereignty. Therefore, it is right for the Indonesian government to only monitor and provide assistance," he said.
          In the meantime, the Indonesian government has expressed hope that the Malaysian authorities would take the case soon to the court and give the severest punishment to the rapists if they were proven guilty.
         Chief of the National Agency for Placement and Protection of Indonesian Workers Overseas (BNP2TKI), Moh Jumhur Hidayat said that his agency has coordinated with the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur to ask for the severest punishment for the three Malaysian police.
          Jumhur said that Malaysia needed to provide re-education for its police apparatuses because the number of those who committed barbarous acts in facing Indonesian migrant workers was increasing.
          "It is important for Malaysia to re-educated its apparatuses in light of their repeated barbarous acts against Indonesian migrant workers both for workers who have or have no proper documents," Jumhur said.
          Cases of barbarous acts such as extortion, shooting and now brutal rapes have been often committed by Malaysian police, he said.
          He hoped that the rapists, who were identified as Nik Sin Mat Lazin (33), Syahiran Ramli (21) and Remy Anak Dana (25), will be punished as heavily as possible.
          "The Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia has asked Malaysia to take the right and fair legal steps which respect the feeling of the Indonesian people who are very concerned over the rape incident," Jumhur added.
          Manpower Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said his office had sent a note of strong protest to the Malaysian government against the raping by three Malaysian police officers of the Indonesian migrant worker.
          "We have sent a note of strong protest and asked the Malaysian government to punish the perpetrators," the minister said on Monday.
          He said the protest was sent through a joint task force between Malaysia and Indonesia. Indonesia, he said, would also provide lawyers and counseling in an effort to heal the victim's trauma.
          Legislator Indra of the Prosperous Justice Party Faction of the House of Representatives said that the rape incident by the Malaysian police was a barbarous act and a humiliation to the dignity of the Indonesian people.
         "The government should not remain silent and look the incident as a simple matter. The government should continue to monitor and ensure that the three policemen would get the harshest punishment," asserted Indra on Monday.
          He said that the seriousness of the Indonesian government to  monitor and ensure the punishment for the rapists was intended to send the message that the same case should not be repeated in the future. "All citizens abroad should get maximal protection from the state," Indra stressed.
         In the meantime, ANTARA reported from Kuala Lumpur that the Pinang Island Regional Police have set up a special team to investigate the case involving the alleged rape of an Indonesian citizen by three police officials at the local police office on Friday.
         The head of Pinang Island Police's crime department, Senior Assistant Commissioner Mazlan Kesah, stated that the special team would investigate the case in depth.
         "I will ensure that the investigation is conducted fairly, particularly because the accused people are police officers," he was quoted by the local media as saying in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
          "The three police officials of Perai Regional Police will remain in detention until November 16. They will be interrogated in line with Section 376 because they have been accused of rape," Mazlan said.
          The three police officers were arrested on November 9 at 7 pm local time, after the victim reported to the Bukit Mertajam Police office. "After the interrogation is completed, the report will be submitted to the prosecutor for follow-up of the case," Maznan stated.***1***
 
(T.A014/A/A014/A014) 12-11-2012 19:52:4