MANILA – The Asian Migrant Coordinating Body has demanded a thorough and impartial investigation to the murders of two Indonesian women by a British banker in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong authorities have recently arrested Rurik Jutting who is now facing trial for the gruesome killings of Sumarti Ningsih, a 25-year old tourist, and 30-year old Seneng Mujasih, a former domestic worker who overstayed her visa in the former British colony.
“We want a thorough and impartial investigation of these murders, and we want the perpetrator to be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” said Eni Lestari, AMCB spokesperson.
Sumarti was due to fly back to Jakarta on November 2. Her decomposing body was found inside a suitcase in Jutting’s posh Wanchai flat. And Seneng’s lifeless body, on the other hand, bore multiple stab wounds and was found in the same flat by police after a call from Jutting.
“This is a clear case of violence against migrant working women in Hong Kong, and regardless of their immigration status and type of job here, and local police and the courts are bound by the Rule of Law to ensure impartiality in prosecuting the case,” Lestari said.
She said that out of economic desperation in Indonesia, many Indonesian women in Hong Kong chose to work in precarious occupations and hazardous conditions just to send money to their families back home.
“Exploitative migration policies in Hong Kong and Indonesia, such as the two-week rule and high agency fees, may sometimes trap migrants into overstaying their visas, making them even more vulnerable to blackmail and extortion by unscrupulous individuals and syndicates,” Lestari said.
She also lambasted the Indonesian government for lacking a sense of accountability on the plight of Indonesian workers abroad and for being silent and passive on the Wanchai case, “seemingly embarrassed by the whole thing and is focusing its own investigation on the background and profession of the victims instead of the crime committed against its nationals”.
“The Indonesian government is such a hypocrite for keeping its hands off the Wanchai murders, when in fact it has been actively selling its citizens abroad to work in such dangerous occupations as domestic caregivers and turning a blind eye to the prostitution of Indonesian women overseas. It makes money off the export and trafficking of its workers, and yet they hardly lift a finger when the migrants get into trouble,” Lestari said.
She called on the Hong Kong government to regard the crime as a case of violence against women workers. The migrant leader also demanded that the Indonesian government provide support to the families of the victims, especially Sumarti’s child who is only five years old.
She also said that giving justice to the two slain women should be a long-term quest that does not end with punishment of the perpetrator. “The bigger crime here is the policy of labor-export, coupled with social inequalities at home that remain unaddressed by the Indonesian government and which consigns the majority of Indonesians to grinding poverty. These are the conditions that force people like Sumarti and Seneng to risk life and limb by working overseas in precarious jobs,” Lestari said. (Mindanao Examiner, AMCB)
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