Gang Rape of Maid

Jan 30th, 2009, in News, by

RapeA gang rape of an Indonesian maid in Saudi Arabia has the Indonesian press caught napping.

An 38 year old unnamed Indonesian domestic worker in Makkah/Mecca, Saudi Arabia, said in some reports to be a sufferer from AIDS (although Saudi police sources deny this arabnews.com), ran away from her employer’s home a month ago and was then detained by a policeman who took her to a backstreet guest house and raped her.

Over the next night and day she was raped by a total of 45 other men, and finally dumped on the side of the road, where a police patrol picked her up and she was taken to hospital.

Police (the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice) raided the house later and arrested some of the men, who are now out on bail and are said to be awaiting the results of AIDS tests. The Indonesian woman remains in hospital. arabnews.com

Hat tip to PJBali, who notes that Indonesian media do not seem to be aware of the story (it appears to have broken in the Saudi press on 27th January and international press the following day).


51 Comments on “Gang Rape of Maid”

  1. diego says:

    Saudi Arabia desperetaly needs something like UU Pornografi (anti pornography law), like the one just passed by indonesian parliament.

    Oh, I forgot, they already have Islam (Al-Quran + Hadits)…. So what went wrong?

  2. Oigal says:

    Mongels!!

    But as for Indonesian Press and Government running with this..You’re kidding aren’t you..The Arab (quite correctly) view is ..just chuck the pembantu nation a couple more petro-bucks for a another Arab wanna be Mosque and nothing more will be said.

    Wakey Wakey Indonesia..reality is calling.

    Although if Allah (?) is kicking about the girl doesn’t have AIDS and all those mongrels that raped her do. If that happens then perhaps the believers can get back to me what one should believe.

  3. Ryuken says:

    I knew it, someone will eventually took the bait and enter religion into the equation. Rape happens everywhere irrespective of religion. Perhaps if an Imam raped a girl then it’s a different story.

  4. Lairedion says:

    Ryuken,

    In Saudi Arabia everything is related to religion because these hooked-nosed desert dwellers always hide behind their sickening religion. For this poor woman to prove she was indeed raped she needs 4 male eye witnesses in accordance to sharia law.

  5. Rob says:

    It is strange that the Indonesian press missed this. They are generally pretty good at reporting tragic migrant worker stories.

    Interestingly, the Minister of Labor and Transmigration issued a Regulation on the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Labor. If I am not mistaken it was issued in December and comes into force on 1 Feb 2009. It provides for all manner of legal, consular, and diplomatic assistance to be provided to Indonesian Migrant Workers living and working abroad.

    It will also be interesting to see how the Saudis deal with this. Getting raped by one person must be traumatic enough, but by 45. Cowards one and all…

  6. Ryuken says:

    Sorry Lairedon, I don’t respond too well to (nor appreciate) baseless bigotry. It hollows one’s soul, and one’s brain. Even kindergarteners can place stereotypes on others πŸ˜‰

    Looking beyond stereotypes and prejudices, ahh now that’s the hard part.. There’s no challenge in doing easy choices anyway.

  7. Rob says:

    @ Ryuken

    Then you could just respond to the part about needing 4 male witnesses (if you know the answer).

  8. Lairedion says:

    Ryuken,

    I see you are one of the sensitive kind. Well, if you don’t respond well to stereotyping and baseless bigotry then this blog is not the place to be for you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. πŸ™‚

  9. Pakmantri says:

    @ryuken,

    Rape happens everywhere irrespective of religion ……

    So it is all right to rape then? πŸ™

    Perhaps if an Imam raped a girl then it’s a different story

    Really? What about syech Puji? He is doing under age girls and he is free.

    To me it just prove one thing, Shariah law does not work. Because the police are still corrupt and the men are still raping women.

    @ Mas Aluang AB,
    I think, Ryuken is ready for you ………………. πŸ˜€

    Salam.

  10. schmerly says:

    Lets wait and see if the MUI have anything to say about this, or perhaps the FPI will demonstrate in front of the Saudi Arabian Embassy??

  11. Ryuken says:

    Pakmantri,

    So it is all right to rape then? πŸ™

    Definitely no, but this article clearly wasn’t talking about rape by religious people (clerics, imam, etc), just a gang rape by commoners. Then why insert religion in the equation? It’s naive to think that the whole of Arabia consists of strictly religious people, so blaming religion for something that a bunch of immoral people had done is out of context, don’t you think?

    Really? What about syech Puji? He is doing under age girls and he is free.

    But the article wasn’t about syech Puji, was it? If it is then you can freely add religion in your argument, but since it isn’t then we just have to say that some Arabs (irrespective of their religion) raped an Indonesian woman. We should probably discuss measures that our government can take to prevent such instances in the future, after all it’s a government’s duty to protect their nationals who is working aboard.

    I’m only saying that we shouldn’t get into the blame the religion bandwagon too easily, since sometimes it’s just plainly out of context.

    To me it just prove one thing, Shariah law does not work. Because the police are still corrupt and the men are still raping women.

    Well then the blame should be placed on the corrupt police and the lustful men, don’t you think? Wasn’t that the same defense of the secularists in Indonesia since our independence? “The secular system is not at fault, it’s our implementation that is flawed. We should try to imitate the US and Europe”

    Allright, is it OK then if some people also conclude that the secular system doesn’t work after seeing how Indonesia was run (by secularists) since our independence, or how rape and free sex is rampant in the US, or how domestic violence is still common in the secular west, or that even evangelists have their way towards choir boys in the US? I don’t think that you’re being fair here. πŸ™‚

  12. schmerly says:

    Ryuken from what I understand in the Islamic culture wives are just chattels, for instance the wife is forbidden to refuse sex with her husband, if she does he can force himself on her! I think that’s called (rape) in other society’s, also if the wife doesn’t do what the husband tells her to, he can chastise her by knocking her about! and this is the reason a lot of Moslem men have such a bad reputation, and don’t forget their sons see this sort of thing going on in their own homes, so they grow up thinking this sort of thing is the norm.
    This being the case these evil thugs probably thought is was OK to rape this poor woman.

    As you say “rape and free sex is rampant in the US, or how domestic violence is still common in the secular west” but I think you’ll find Indonesia is no better.

  13. bukakelambu says:

    Definitely no, but this article clearly wasn’t talking about rape by religious people (clerics, imam, etc), just a gang rape by commoners. Then why insert religion in the equation?

    @ Ryuken.

    A religious country does not equate a virtuous one. Rape cases on Indonesian maids by those sand knee grows are not big news anymore here in Indonesia.

  14. orgindo says:

    come on come on. not a big thing. definitely not a big thing.

    why a nation that never solve the Chinese rape in 1999 suddenly feels so distraught by this small incident? we got so many rapists in this country who will do the same thing given chance anyway.

    not a big deal, not a big deal..

  15. Rob says:

    @ Orgindo…

    With attitudes like yours it is no wonder that there are still those deniers like PN who argue that there were no rapes of Chinese Indonesians in May 1998.

    One rape no matter where it occurs is abhorrent and should offend us as human beings. What happened to this maid is a big thing and is indicative of a culture of violence towards women.

    So, the rape of your mother or your sister would not be a big deal, definitely not a big thing at all?

    Sad, very sad!

  16. orgindo says:

    well rob. i am speechless.

    don’t you understand sarcasm in language?

    i am chinese myself and i am very concern with the 99 issue. you should have detected my sarcasm in my post…

    sigh.

    and avoid using this:

    So, the rape of your mother or your sister would not be a big deal, definitely not a big thing at all?

  17. orgindo says:

    *i meant 98, not 99

  18. Rob says:

    @ Orgindo…

    Do I understand sarcasm? Yes, I do as a matter of fact. What you had to say was not sarcasm in the context, it was simply, sad!

    So, now you are going to tell me what I can and cannot write on an open forum? Sarcasm or not the block quote stands as is in the context of what you wrote. If the rape of a woman is not a big deal then it should not be a big deal either when it is your mother or your sister. The fact that you are Chinese is irrelevant to what you posted earlier.

    Are you Indonesian of Chinese descent or Chinese?

  19. Lairedion says:

    Orgindo, why are you so concerned with the alleged rapes of 1998? Just because you are Chinese? After all, it was not such a big deal either…

  20. orgindo says:

    K. there is some places where I am misunderstood here. Maybe my english is not that good, so yeah, let me just stop here. Cause in the past, things do not get better if i post more. πŸ™‚ just like Lairedion said, it was not a big deal.

    Rob, I am third generation chinese, who was also impacted first hand on the 98 event. and tell me rob, how should i feel. sad maybe. i am tired of this country’s hypocrisy. the news that i read everyday does not help either. for a country that already kick God out of the system, and only take God as a symbol, it is almost the end.

    until the whole country starts to repent and return to God, i say, it is simply helpless. there is only hatred in the system, just look at US who kicks God out of system. we are no better. just looks better from outside.

    don’t get me wrong. I am still hopeful for this country. just complaining here. and honestly, I have seen some improvement in SBY government, but sad to its lack of effort for this case (98 riot). nevertheless, he is still going to get my vote.

    peace.

  21. ET says:

    Ryuken said

    Rape happens everywhere irrespective of religion.

    It’s true that rape happens everywhere but even more so in countries where the slightest expression of sexuality and eroticism is repressed by bigoted and hypocrital religious authorities. Blood creeps where it can’t flow.

    What is striking in this case is the deafening silence of the Indonesian media. But then again it doesn’t need an Einstein to realize that one doesn’t want to upset too much a regime which houses the cradle of one’s majority ideological base. Not to mention the money flows.

  22. Farah says:

    @ orgindo
    What happened in 1998 is totally wrong. I think most of us here agree with that.

    But when you say you are tired at this country hypocrisy ? made me almost laugh at you. Whos you’re fooling here?

    Have you ever been to Sumatra ? once? twice? Palembang, Pekan baru, Jambi or Medan ????

    Who rules there??? Chinese.

    Do we hate them ? nope.. not really.

    My high school basketball team consist of 12 chinese girls and a malay girl, which is me. Does that bother me ? nope.

    What do i hate mostly about is, from very young age i saw so many chinese breaking laws or bent it. Pay here and there. Even cut the lines of queue at bank. While i am standing there like a moron for 30 min more.

    Or when they ride their motorbike like crazy no helmet, and crash my mom that stood next to street ? because that chinese guy cannot control of his motorcycle because he went to fast.

    DO I HATE CHINESE ? no.

    I hate the person it self. And theres lots of chinese person here that have certain attitude that really irritating.

    Arrogant, very business mind, nothing is for free. And i don’t know why, chinese made distance with locals. In school thats what happened, chinese only hang out with chinese. No time for ex-school activity. No time to get to know this darker skin friends.

    How could you want us to understand you and feel that you are one of us while you build your own wall around your society ?

    When government made a programs for every indonesian, e.g birth control or keluarga berencana.. i never saw any chinese in my city do said we follow birth control program. Most of my chinese FRIEND have more than 4 brother and sisters. And not mention the tax rules. I ever discuss this with my chinese friends, their family have good way to run out of obligation for tax, and have imported cars, in small city like mine ? hehehe..
    Thats just one/two examples.

    Why you ask the government to care while you are not even care about the government rules?

    You might have huge problem with the riot in Jakarta at 1998, and hate every single indonesia that have darker skin. I would say, i never hate chinese, have much chinese friends. Most of them quite friendly to me (especially when the english exam is coming next day).

    Just open your eyes wide. Not all of us like that.

    This just my thought….

  23. diego says:

    @Farah

    Why don’t you address that to draggie and wendy as well? They might need to hear that. πŸ™‚

  24. jacques says:

    Just two things, first to Ryuken,
    Had it happened in a christian country, it would have been widely commented by muslim leaders in Indonesia, and used as a tool to gain popularity. How come you’re defending the fate of palestinians and don’t care about the Rohyngas??? manipulation, double standards,
    To Farah, I totally agree with you, about sino indonesian behaviour, pay, corrupt, be unpleasant, and then complain of being mistreated. It is the same everywhere in the world. They just have problemes to mix…..but, I also have very good chinese friends…

  25. DumadiSatrio says:

    A muslim friend of mine once asked me: Why did god send all the prophets to the Semite people?
    I said: I dont know
    He said: Because those people really need prophets.

  26. orgindo says:

    Farah,

    I am from Medan, North SUmatra. and like you say, a lot of that stuff is real. But let me give you the dilemma we are facing:

    1. Pay to get our way
    To make a SIM, you pay 100rb for 10 hour queue, you pay ‘calo’, you get in and out in 1-2 hours. it costs around 200-500 rb. for local, if you know the police in the office, they expedite you around, since we do not know locals, we depend on calo who knows the police inside. It’s the process that hinder us.

    2. Segregation
    We tend to flock together. And we trust our people more. Somehow, since 1960, the propaganda that Government carried against chinese has detrimental effect even until today. so, who can we trust most? still our own family. Do we mingle with locals, yes, but not much. Do that give the locals reason to hate us? No.
    Even right now, it takes times to change that. If there are stil unfairness to chinese (2nd class citizen), then it will take longer to assimilate. I am as much as Indonesian as any1 else.
    Just look at our education system, how it used to favors the locals, and Chinese has to pay to get their way. the result is, in uni, not many Chinese, and a lot of us don’t go to public uni for that reason, which is intepreted as segregation for many people.
    We build our wall for a good reason. For protection. We keep a distance for a good reason. Isn’t it ironic that we can’t even feel safe in our own country?

    3. About helmet
    I am sure that it is not just chinese that do that. I went to Jakarta and saw so much people not wearing helmet. If the Chinese do that because of money, then probably the locals do that because they are numerous (esp in New Year, you can see literally thousands pour down the street without helmet). Personally, my parent barred me from riding motorcycle due to safety issue, and even sometimes I do ojek, i wear helmet.
    It’s just question of personality. That Chinese you are talking about, is plain stupid, and idiot for doing that, I concur.

    4. Government Rule
    First, I believe that many chinese do that because they can afford getting extra child. We raised them up and educate them ‘properly’ (at least we tried). And as far as i know, the program is voluntary, so I would not talk about Chinese breaking the rule here.
    Second, the rule, like I said before in some previous comment, the system itself is broken. So, if you abide by the rule, you will get tangled by some bureaucracy. Until the system itself is fixed, it is hard, because basicly the rule is targeting a lot of Chinese. It is used as a tool to press us.
    If you notice, recently Sunset Policy, it has been taken as a good will from government. A lot of people I know started doing that. Even my dad is advocating the program. They say, “Let’s give this chance to SBY to restore the trust. We will trust him now.” Well i have to admit we are big fan of SBY. He has restored a lot of our trust, and make us feel safer to be in our own country again.

    5. Riot
    I don’t hate many locals because of the riot. I just ‘wished’ that the government will pay attention to that, because we are not just talking about Chinese getting raped there, we are talking about Chinese INDONESIAN getting raped there. Media is so burning to spread the news of Indonesian getting unjust treatment outside, why, we Chinese INDONESIAN, who is borned here, treated otherwise?
    As much as you think that this is about the desire to get the case done, it is a culmination of our desire to get fair treatment, equality as INDONESIAN citizens.
    Like I say, it hard to say anything about us, if we are still considered as foreigner. There is rights, and responsibilities. If we are given the rights, then we have no reason not to abide by our responsibilities. If we are not given our rights, how can the country demand our responsibilities? It is possible, but it is simply hard.

    6. Business Mind
    Well, the fact is, since we are young, we are taught about value of money. We are mostly business man, so it is natural that we are taught that way, about how to save money and stuff. One of that is “nothing comes free”. We believe that for what we want in lives, we have to work hard, nothing comes free. But some people take it into extreme and even take friendship as something that can be bought with money.
    I assure you, that is not the teaching. I do value friendship, I value my family, I value my country, and those are the thing that cannot be bought by money. Some of us might already realize, the same thing, equality in our country or citizenship in Indonesia, is something that cannot be bought by money.

  27. Cukurungan says:

    Had it happened in a christian country, it would have been widely commented by muslim leaders in Indonesia, and used as a tool to gain popularity.

    http://www.southafricaproject.org/blog/2008/09/child-rape-in-south-africa/

    http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/18/us-soaring-rates-rape-and-violence-against-women

    Friend tell me, when the above news have been commented or discussed by the muslim leader in Indonesia

    It’s true that rape happens everywhere but even more so in countries where the slightest expression of sexuality and eroticism is repressed by bigoted and hypocrital religious authorities. Blood creeps where it can’t flow.

    No need an Einstein to refute your posting see below:

    http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_rap_percap-crime-rapes-per-capita

    But hehehe do not worry I will help you… oh statistic not accurate because in muslim countries to be considered as rape it need 4 witness …

  28. Burung Koel says:

    @ Cukurungan

    From your second link:

    DEFINITION: Total recorded rapes. Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence. Per capita figures expressed per 1,000 population.

    It always pays to read the fine print.

    Two words: Sexual. Repression.

    Two more words: Rule. Law.

    Cases like these, from whatever country, suggest that people will commit all sorts of atrocities, provided they THINK THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT. The police involvement, the large number of perpetrators etc meant these scumbags thought they were safe. I only hope the victim is brave enough, has enough support, and the Saudi justice system is willing to defend her and the rights of all victims, and to bring them to trial.

    On a side note, the behaviour of these individuals and those in other places suggest that being ‘religious’ and living in a ‘religious society’ is neither a sufficient nor necessary condition for behaving in a moral manner.

  29. HeavenlySword says:

    I pray that the victim would be given the strength to carry on her life. I also hopeful that our government be given the courage to deal with these low-life-scum-of-the-earth scumbags, by taking an extreme measure against Saudi Arabia.

    If our gov didn’t react, then they need to take Viagras to cure their impotency.

    What’s the point of being a citizen of a country if his/her government didn’t back him/her up? That’s gonna be like the 2nd rape.

    Some people here should be ashamed of themselves. You all should do something more important like praying for the victim rather than glorifying your own race and religion.

  30. ET says:

    Cukurungan

    But hehehe do not worry I will help you… oh statistic not accurate because in muslim countries to be considered as rape it need 4 witness …

    Thank you for your help. You took the words right out of my keyboard.

Comment on “Gang Rape of Maid”.

RSS
RSS feed
Email

Copyright Indonesia Matters 2006-2025
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact