REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Indonesian National Board of Placement and Protection of Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI), Gatot Abdulah Mansyur has confirmed the diyat (blood money) for the release of migrant worker Satinah from execution in Saudi Arabia was paid in cash.
"For sure, Satinah is already freed from punishment by beheading in Saudi Arabia, because the diyat shortage for 2 million riyals has been transferred to the victim's family. However, the diyat can be accepted only on Sunday, because bank on Friday and Saturday in Saudi Arabia is closed," he told Antara News Agency here on Thursday.
According to Gatot the diyat from the Indonesian government amounting 3 million riyals and 4 million riyals were donated by various parties including APJATI and one of bank owners in Saudi Arabia.
"Of the 7 million riyals demanded by the victim's family, the government provided 3 million riyals and 4 million riyals from the donators. Thank God (we) can pay off the diyat," he remarked.
The former Indonesian ambassador to Saudi Arabia further said in the future there should be a regulation about the amount of diyat paid by the government.
"The rules should be made by the government along with the House of Representatives (DPR). Not all the diyat should become burden of the government," he disclosed.
Principally the government only helps relieve the diyat payments, and to pay off the diyat is conducted through fund raising by families and other parties, Gatot said.
"For instance, the diyat ceiling is set one million riyal, then the rest must be obtained from the society," he noted.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, coordinating minister for economic affairs, Hatta Rajasa said in Bangkalan, E Java that attention was not only paid to Satinah, but also to other citizens facing troubles abroad, including Siti Zaenab from Bangkalan on Madura island who was also facing a death penalty in Saudi Arabia in connection with a murder case.
Satinah`s fate has triggered the government`s and public concerns. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had even sent a special envoy to bring his letter to Saudi King.
The head of state had also met with the families of Satinah, Tuti Tursilawati, Siti Zaenab and Karni -- four migrant workers who remain on the death row in Saudi Arabia.
President Yudhoyono, however, had also reminded Indonesians of the fact that the government had successfully freed 176 Indonesians from being executed in foreign countries over the years though there were still 246 Indonesians on the death row abroad.
Satinah, 40, was on the brink of execution after the Saudi Arabian courts found her guilty of killing her employer Nura al-Gharib in the Gaseem area in early 2009 and stealing her employer`s money.
She has been jailed since 2009 and will be executed on April 3, 2014, unless the requested diyat of seven million riyal can be paid.
President Yudhoyono said the execution of Satinah has repeatedly been delayed since 2011 as a result of three letters that the Indonesian government sent to the Saudi authorities.
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