Govt vows to defend abused workers<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Amid rising reports of case of abuse of Indonesian workers
\nabroad, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda reiterated on
\nTuesday that the government would step up its efforts to provide
\nprotection for the migrant workers, most of whom work as
\nhousemaids in the Middle East and in neighboring countries.<\/p>\n
Many cases of unskilled workers being abused by their
\nemployers have been reported. And Indonesian missions abroad are
\nalso criticized for their relatively poor attention to the
\nproblem. Hassan's statement was apparently a response to such
\ncriticism.<\/p>\n
The minister said as long as the country's economy was still
\nnot able to make jobs for the tens of millions of unemployed, the
\nnumbers of Indonesians who are forced to work abroad would remain
\nhigh.<\/p>\n
\"That is why we must change the image of our representative
\noffices abroad from the office of government officials to be a
\nIndonesian home which protects its citizens,\" Hassan said.<\/p>\n
Deutche Pressee-Agentur reported a Hong Kong housewife has
\nbeen jailed to nine months in prison for punishing her Indonesian
\nmaid by burning her with a hot iron. Cheong Un-ieng, 62, pressed
\nthe hot iron against 19-year-old Zuliatin's back as she bent down
\nto mop up water she had spilled on the floor in her apartment.<\/p>\n
The assault left Zuliatin with second degree burns on her back
\nand two scars over 10 centimeters long, the news agency report
\nsaid. Cheong, a mother of three, told the maid not to tell anyone
\nabout the attack, warning her that she would be sent back to
\nIndonesia if she did.<\/p>\n
However, Zuliatin sneaked out of the apartment in Hong Kong's
\nWan Chai district on the pretext of dumping the trash and asked a
\npasserby for help before going to the police.<\/p>\n
Cheong denied causing grievous bodily harm but was convicted
\nof the offense and jailed after a trial which ended Monday.<\/p>\n
Another housewife, Liu Man-kuen, 33, was jailed for 18 months
\nin 2000 for ironing the back of her 28-year-old Indonesian maid's
\nhands as punishment for scorching a blouse with the same iron.<\/p>\n
More than 200,000 women, mostly from the Philippines,
\nIndonesia and Thailand, work as live-in maids for Hong Kong
\nfamilies, doing housework and child care for a government-set
\nminimum wage of US$400 a month.<\/p>\n
From Kuala Lumpur, the Associated Press reported that an
\nIndonesian woman being forced to work as a prostitute in Malaysia
\nclimbed out of a 17th-floor window to raise the alarm that led to
\nher controllers' arrest on Monday.<\/p>\n
Police were called by security guards who saw a woman outside
\nan apartment on the 17th floor waving her arms at them, the
\nreport said. The woman later told police she had been brought to
\nMalaysia by the men, who had promised her work as a waitress but
\nhad forced her into prostitution instead.<\/p>\n
Fourteen women from Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam aged from
\n17 to 25 were taken into custody and three Malaysian men were
\narrested after police went to the apartment.<\/p>\n
Senior police official Mohammed Azmir Mohd Nazri said none of
\nthe 14 women had proper travel documents, and it appeared the
\napartment was being used by a prostitution ring.
\nThe men and women involved were being held while investigations
\ncontinued, Mohammed was cited as saying.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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