Embassy told to act on maid abuse

MEDAN, North Sumatra: The Indonesian Embassy in Singapore should ensure that the latest abuse against 20 Indonesian maids by their Singaporean employers is investigated, an activist demanded on Monday.

Maya Manurung of the North Sumatra Women organization said the Indonesian government had to ask for the cases to be fully investigated and charges laid in court.

"The government is obliged to defend the maids' rights and never let the cases be closed," she said.

A staff member at the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore, Husein Abubakar, told Antara recently that 20 female maids were sheltering at the embassy after fleeing their employers who they claimed had beaten and sexually harassed them.

Two of the housemaids claimed to have been raped. -- Antara