120 RI maids in Sarawak take refuge

120 RI maids in Sarawak take refuge

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP): Some 120 Indonesian maids
fleeing physical abuse or attempted rape by employers or agents
have taken refuge at their country's consulate in an east
Malaysian state, a report said Thursday.

Nugraha, consul general in Sarawak, was quoted by the Sun
newspaper as saying the maids had taken refuge over the past
seven months.

"We provide food and accommodation but they have to sleep on
the floor," he was quoted as saying.

"They are crowded into two rooms and there are no blankets."

Nugraha said the maids aged 15 to 25 would eventually be sent
back to their homes in Indonesia's neighboring West Kalimantan
province.

There is an urgent need for formal agreements between maids,
agents and employers to ensure fairness and avoid abuse, he was
quoted as saying.

One maid aged 22 was quoted as saying she was raped three
times by her local recruiting agent before she fled.

Nugraha said some maids from mainly Muslim Indonesia ran away
from employers because they were forced to eat pork, were
physically abused or were not paid wages.

Last week police in Sarawak arrested one employer who
allegedly made her Indonesian maid drink bleach as well as
beating and scalding her.

Reports of a series of attacks on Indonesian maids throughout
the country this year have shocked many Malaysians.

Some employers have been charged and the cabinet ordered a
study into ways of protecting foreign domestic helpers.

Some 150,000 foreign maids, mainly Indonesians, work in
Malaysia to escape poverty back home.