Starting Points: maids

Showing posts with label maids. Show all posts

Oct 26, 2009

NST Online - Abused Indonesian maid dies

Image by Dude Crush via Flickr

2009/10/26

KUALA LUMPUR, Mon: An Indonesian maid who was allegedly severely beaten by her Malaysian employers, and then bound and locked up in a toilet for two days, has died in hospital, police said today.

A night market vendor and his wife have been arrested over the abuse of 36-year-old Mautik Hani from Surabaya, in the latest in a series of cases that have prompted Indonesia to temporarily ban sending domestic workers here.

Malaysia and Indonesia are negotiating a deal on salaries and conditions aimed at preventing mistreatment of maids, who currently have no legal safeguards on their working conditions.

“I can confirm that Mautik Hani has died in hospital,” district police chief Mohamad Mat Yusop said.

“We have to wait for the hospital’s report on her cause of death before deciding on the next course of action regarding her employers. They are still being detained,” he added.

Hani was rescued from her employers’ home a week ago. She was found by another Indonesian cleaner hired to replace her who noticed a foul smell coming from a locked bathroom.

Police said that when she was found she was tied up around her arms and legs, and was bruised all over her body.

Among her injuries were a serious wound to the right leg that exposed the bone.

It was that reported Hani had been abused by her employers almost daily during the two months she worked at their home.

Sep 3, 2009

Indonesian maids in Malaysia to have weekly day off - AFP

Image via Wikipedia

KUALA LUMPUR — Indonesian maids working in Malaysia will be given one day off a week and be allowed to hold onto their passports, the home ministry said Thursday, in a new deal triggered by a string of abuse case.

Indonesia imposed a ban on sending maids to work here in June, after a 43-year-old Malaysian woman was charged with causing grievous bodily harm by beating her Indonesian maid and scalding her with boiling water.

Malaysia's Home Ministry said in a statement that the new terms were agreed by senior Malaysian and Indonesian officials who met in August.

"The meeting has agreed that Indonesian maids will be allowed to keep their passport when they are working in this country," it said.

Currently, employers typically hold onto maids' passports, to prevent them running away or to exercise control over them.

"The Indonesian maids also will be given one day off a week," it added.

The ministry said the committee thrashing out the new working conditions will hold a fourth meeting in Jakarta this Saturday, which will tackle the hotly debated topic of maids' wages.

The issue of wages has remained unresolved despite talks that have been held intermittently since 2007.

Malaysia -- one of Asia's largest importers of labour -- depends heavily on domestic workers, mainly from Indonesia, but has no laws governing their working conditions.

The government in May announced plans for new laws to protect domestic workers from sexual harassment, non-payment of wages and poor working conditions.

Currently Indonesian maids typically work seven days a week for as little as 400 ringgit (113 dollars).