Abuse of maids in Malaysia slammed

Abuse of maids in Malaysia slammed

Agencies, Jakarta/Kuala Lumpur

Thousands of Indonesian maids in Malaysia are victims of physical
and mental abuse and are denied basic rights, with scant legal
protection, a human rights group said on Wednesday.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said many maids were raped
or assaulted, worked up to 18 hours a day, seven days a week and
denied even their meagre pay of less than $0.25 an hour.

Nisha Varia, researcher in the group's women's rights
division, urged the Indonesian and Malaysian governments to alter
their labor laws to protect home workers.

"We're especially concerned about Malaysia because of the
systemic problems. For example, the exclusion of domestic workers
from any type of legal protection is of great concern," she told
a news conference.

Last year, 18,000 domestic workers left their employers in
Malaysia, she said.

Labor-starved Malaysia employs about 240,000 maids, more than
90 percent from neighboring Indonesia, Human Rights Watch said.

Others come from the Philippines, Cambodia and Sri Lanka.

Most maids are confined to their workplace and their salary is
often withheld until the end of the standard two-year contract,
after which most are never paid in full and have little chance of
redress, it said.

Many also suffer psychological, physical and sexual assault by
labor agents and employers, according to the report.

Human Rights Watch noted that Malaysia's laws excluded
domestic workers from most labor protection while Indonesia still
has no specific laws protecting migrant workers, leaving the task
to agencies which control most aspects of the migration and
placement process.

Labor agents in Indonesia often subject prospective workers to
extortion, discriminatory hiring processes and months-long
confinement in overcrowded training centers while those in
Malaysia turn a deaf ear to complaints of abusive treatment and
pleas to return home, it said.

The group based its findings and estimates on 115 interviews
with maids, officials and others in Indonesia and Malaysia.

A Malaysian minister ruled out any legal changes.

"No country has that kind of law. Maids are very personal and
they are part of the family. The normal law is enough if there is
a report of abuse," Home Affairs Minister Azmi Khalid told
Reuters.

"Less than 1 percent of maids are subjected to physical
abuse," he added.

A recent abuse scandal trained the spotlight on the plight of
Indonesian maids after newspapers carried pictures of a bruised
and burnt teenager allegedly branded with a hot iron and scalding
water by her Malaysian employer.

The Bernama news agency reported on Tuesday that Malaysia, the
second-largest employer of Indonesian maids after Saudi Arabia,
is working on a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia to
improve working conditions of foreign maids.

In Jakarta on Wednesday, Manpower Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea said
Indonesia had worked for increased legal protection for its
workers in neighboring Malaysia.

"The majority of cases found in Kuala Lumpur are about illegal
workers and those people who do not have skills," he said on a
television talk show.

In Hong Kong, foreign domestic workers are protected by a
mandatory minimum wage and are entitled to a day off each week.

But representatives groups say the real situation faced by
many is quite different and difficult.

Many do not get the minimum wage and are too fearful to
complain. That minimum was also cut last year as the government
tried to ease the effects of a drawn out economic slowdown.