“Au fain” is an expression in the original language of South Central Timor which means, “I want to go home”. This short phrase was a source of "strength" for Adelina Sau (aka Adelina Lisao), a 17-year old teenage girl from Abi Village in Oenino, South Timor Tengah, before she breathed her last breath in Malaysia. She had been tortured by her employer, S. Ambika (60 years old, of Indian descent), who lived at Taman Kota Permai, Bukit Mertajam, in Penang, Malaysia.
According to neighbours who saw her, Adelina was forced to sleep with a dog on the porch of the house for about a month. Her head and face were swollen, and her feet and hands were covered with ulcers and pus. On February 10, 2018, Adelina was rescued and taken to a hospital in Penang. Not two days later, on February 11, 2018, she passed away; her life could not be saved, as the wound had already festered, and the infection had spread to other organs. The post-mortem report of the Penang Hospital noted that the cause of death was multi-organ failure, secondary to anemia (possibly neglected)—Adelina suffered from anemia that went untreated for too long, which led to a multi-organ failure.
Adelina’s Tragic Story
In 2012, Adelina graduated from Nifukani Public Elementary School, in Abi Village, South Central Timor. She was the second child of 4 siblings. Her parents could not afford further education for her, so Adelina did not continue her studies. She spent her days helping her parents take care of the house and field. Adelina was recruited around August 2015. In actuality, the broker had met with her parents several times to ask Adelina to work in Malaysia. However, her parents would not allow it, and had repeatedly refused. While they were working in the field, Adelina, swayed by the broker's promises, was picked up and taken away. Marthen Sau, her father, was given Rp. 500,000, - through a neighbour, not knowing what the money was for. At the time of her "recruitment", Adelina was 16 years old. Her identity was then faked. Her name was changed to Adelina Lisao, and her birth year was changed, from 1998 to 1992. Since then, communication with her family has been cut off, until the family received news of Adelina's death in Malaysia.
Adelina's death was caused by torture at the hands of her employers (a 60-year-old woman and her two children, a 36-year-old woman and a 39-year-old man). According to the account of one of her employer's neighbours in Malaysia, Adelina was forced to sleep with the family’s Rottweiler on the porch of her employer's house on shabby mats for more than a month. Adelina's face, hands, and feet were also covered in wounds. The neighbour then reported them to the Malaysian police on charges of torture against an Indonesian citizen. The police arrived and then took Adelina, who was already in critical condition, to Bukit Mertajam Hospital, Malaysia. Steven Sim (a member of parliament in Bukit Mertajam) said that when she was picked up at the scene, Adelina was in extremely poor condition, with severe injuries on her hands. Adelina said that during January-February 2018, she was forced to sleep outside with her employer's dog, was denied food, and suffered abuse. However, even though she received treatment, Adelina's life could not be saved. She passed away on Sunday, February 11, 2018. When she received news of Adelina's death, Adelina's mother (Yohana) visited the South Central Timor Police. She asked that her daughter's body be returned to Indonesia; her request was fulfilled.
Adelina's body was greeted with cries from her birth mother and family, who picked her up at the cargo plane at El Tari Airport, Kupang, on Saturday, February 17, 2019. Her body was immediately taken to her village in Abi Village, Oenino District, South Central Timor.
Case Development
Adelina's mother asked the police to follow up on her child's case; the Malaysian police force then arrested the three employers. In accordance with Malaysian law, Adelina's employer, Ambika M. A Shan, was charged with Article 302 of the penal code, which carries the death penalty. Meanwhile, her daughter, Ambika R Jayavartiny, was charged with employing illegal immigrants from March 2017 to February 10 2018. The 36-year-old woman was deemed to have violated Article 55 B paragraph 1 of the Immigration Law. If found guilty, Jayavartiny would be sentenced to one year, and a maximum fine of 50,000 ringgit (around Rp. 173 million). Jayavartiny denied the charges against her, pleading not guilty, though she admitted that she knew that Adelina had immigrated illegally. All three of Adelina's employers were also interrogated by Tenaganita, a non-governmental organization that protects migrant workers from abuse. They denied treating Adelina poorly but admitted that they had slapped her several times. Adelina's employers claimed that Adelina's injuries were due to a chemical cleaner used to clean the kitchen sink. According to the doctor who examined her, Adelina suffered bruises on her head and face. She suffered from multiorgan failure, secondary to anemia. This means that her organs failed due to a lack of blood in her body. However, the court did not consider the evidence to be sufficient to convict Adelina's three employers; they were all released from custody on April 18, 2019. The decision received negative responses from Adelina's family, the Indonesian government, and the NGOs that assisted Adelina's case. Glorene A. Das, Executive Director of the Malaysian labour protection agency, Tenaganita, questioned Malaysian law and asked the Attorney General's Office to explain why there was no justice for Adelina even though there was clear evidence of the abuse she suffered.
According to information from VOA, on April 22, the Ministry's Directorate of Indonesian Citizen Protection and Indonesian Legal Entity, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, stated that he had asked the public prosecutor to appeal the pure acquittal decision submitted by a judge at the Penang High Court, Malaysia. This is not the first case of acquittal (of abuse towards migrant workers) before a Malaysian court; some time ago, a rich Malaysian aristocrat named Datin Rozita Mohamad Ali (44) was released after abusing Suyanti Sutrisno (19), a domestic worker from Indonesia. Adelina's family also held a meeting to discuss Adelina's case and question the Malaysian law that released Adelina's employers.
Adelina's family also came to the Synod of the Gereja Masehi Injili in Timor (GMIT) to ask for help in following up the case, hoping that Adelina's employers would be punished according to the law enforced in Malaysia. On 8 February 2019, Tenaganita Malaysia and the NTT Anti-Trafficking Network issued a press statement commemorating Adelina Sau and upholding the rights of domestic workers. The Malaysian government needs to act decisively and enforce regulations to protect workers. "Human Trafficking" is not a recent issue in human history. However, when the issue is right in front of our eyes, occurring in several regions in Indonesia, especially in NTT, it is no longer only visible to the naked eye-- it "moves" all of our other senses as well. Our minds, conscience, and attitude, unified and with full awareness, are determined to "fight" against such practices, that so grossly degrade humanity and human dignity. We need a nationwide reflection, as proposed by Tenaganita and other NGOs in Malaysia. At the end of the press statement, Tenaganita and the NTT Anti-Trafficking Network declared their commitment to stand with victims, survivors, victims' families, activists, religious leaders, no longer able and willing to witness the death of any more domestic workers. The Adelina Sau case highlights a painful reality—that NTT is a hotbed for human trafficking. So many innocent people have suffered from the social and economic injustice prevalent in NTT, and are subsequently exploited and taken advantage of by legal and political uncertainties that provide openings for organized crime groups.
This is a memoria passionis for migrant workers from NTT, especially those working in non-formal sectors.
(Revd. Emmy Sahertian –Priest of GMIT, member of Z-HTN)
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