13 February 2018•Update: 13 February 2018
By Erric Permana and Chandni Vasandani
JAKARTA, Indonesia
The death of Indonesian citizen Adelina Lisao who worked as a migrant worker in Malaysia is "unacceptable", Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Tuesday.
Lisao, 21, was found dead in her employer's home in Penang, Malaysia, after suspected abuse.
According to police documents, the victim’s head and face were swollen, and she had wounds on her hand and legs. A post-mortem declared that she died of multiple-organ failure due to anemia.
Marsudi said her government would monitor the proceedings closely and work together with Malaysian authorities to ensure the victim's family gets justice.
"We will provide legal counsel and make sure our citizens get their rights fulfilled," she said.
Her statement was echoed by Minister of Manpower Hanif Dhakiri, who said Lisao's Malaysian employers "have to take responsibility".
The employers, a pair of siblings in their 30s, have been detained in Malaysia in connection with the death and were being investigated.
Nongovernmental organization Migrant CARE said Lisao's case adds to the already large number of cases of Indonesian workers dying abroad.
"In 2017 alone, there were 62 migrant workers from East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia who died overseas," Executive Director of Migrant CARE Wahyu Susilo said.
He urged the government to handle this case despite suspicions that Lisao may have gone to Malaysia illegally.
"The Indonesian representatives in Penang and Kuala Lumpur said that she was an undocumented domestic worker, but it should not stop them from investigating this," he said.
According to the Indonesian Manpower Services Association (Apjati), there are more than 200,000 Indonesian nationals employed as maids in Malaysian households.
Following a string of high-profile abuse cases, Indonesia in 2009 imposed a ban on its female citizens from working in Malaysia; however, the restriction was removed three years later after the two countries agreed on better protection for workers.
In 2014, a Malaysian couple were handed down a life sentence for starving their Indonesian maid to death.
