Bollywood shine leads to women doing time
By Nina Muslim, Staff Reporter
Dubai: Indonesians’ obsession with Bollywood and their stars has been cited as the primary cause for Indonesians landing in UAE jails, a senior consulate official said.
Thirty-six Indonesian women are currently in jail, serving their sentence for illicit relationships. The number accounts for more than half of Indonesians in jail.
A senior Indonesian consulate officer, who spoke to Gulf News on condition of anonymity, said the women, who worked as maids in the UAE were usually from rural areas and uneducated.
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Calling them naïve, he said they were often victims of their sheltered upbringing.
“We have 10 television channels in Indonesia and they show Bollywood movies at least twice a week. These women grew up watching and loving these handsome Indian actors,” he said.
He added when the women arrived in the UAE, home to more than a million South Asians, they became star struck and overfriendly with good looking men of South Asian origin who would chat them up.
“If a cat is given meat, wouldn’t the cat take it?” he said, quoting a familiar Indonesian phrase.
He said in some cases, the women would allow the men to enter the house where they work, at which point the employer would report them to the police.
Other offences that Indonesians are serving time for include immigration violations and theft.