JAKARTA (JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The bodies of Seneng Mujiasih and Sumarti Ningsih, who were allegedly murdered by a British banker in Hong Kong, have been repatriated to Indonesia, the Foreign Ministry has said.
The plane carrying the bodies of the two former migrant workers were scheduled to land at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta at 1.20 pm on Tuesday, stated the ministry.
"Sumarti Ningsih's body will be taken directly to her home town in Cilacap, Central Java, using a Foreign Ministry ambulance," it added.
Seneng's body, meanwhile, will be flown to Muna Regency in Southeast Sulawesi via the province's capital Kendari on Wednesday morning.
The 32-year-old Seneng, aka Jesse Lorena, and Sumarti Ningsih, 23, were allegedly killed by Rurik Jutting, 29, at his apartment in Wan Chai, Hong Kong, two weeks ago.
Jutting has been charged with murdering the two women but has not yet entered a plea. He could face life in jail if convicted, despite the victims' parents' desire to see him sentenced to death. Hong Kong does not have capital punishment.
On Sunday, more than 100 Indonesians in Hong Kong held a prayer vigil and demanded justice for the two women.
Several in the crowd held signs demanding reforms to Hong Kong and Indonesian laws governing how domestic workers find work and how long they can stay in the Chinese enclave. About half of the 319,325 migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong are Indonesian, and nearly all are women, according to the human rights group Amnesty International.
Migrant Care executive director Anis Hidayah claimed that Seneng and Sumarti Ningsih could have been victims of human trafficking after their work permits had expired.
"We have assisted numerous cases in Hong Kong where migrant workers have complained about the complicated, lengthy and costly processes required in getting their work permits extended," she said.
As a result, Anis added, many of the workers, particularly those from villages with low education levels, with expiring permits succumbed to the temptations of trafficker rings.
