Malaysians jailed over RI maid rape

Malaysians jailed over RI maid rape

A Malaysian court on Thursday sentenced a man to 36 years' jail
and nine strokes of the rattan cane for raping his Indonesian
maid, while his wife was jailed for six years for helping him, a
report said.

Seow Eng Aik, 37, was found guilty on three counts of raping
the 19-year-old maid from the city of Semarang at his home in
northern Penang state last year, the Bernama news agency said.

Seow's wife, Tan Seok Hoon, 37, was convicted of assisting in
the attack.

During the trial, the court heard that Tan had held the maid's
hands while her husband raped her, and also sexually violated her
using chillies and a carrot.

Deputy public prosecutor Abdul Razak Musa had asked the court
to impose a heavy sentence because the couple had committed
appalling acts and taken advantage of a vulnerable woman.

Some 100,000 Indonesian maids work in Malaysia. They often
receive a salary of just US$100 a month and many are forced to
work long hours with little protection from labor laws.

Cases of "maid abuse" emerge regularly here, including
incidents where young women are forced to eat excrement, drink
from toilet bowls, or are burned and beaten by both male and
female employers.

International watchdog Human Rights Watch warned earlier this
year that foreign maids in Malaysia are prey to physical,
psychological and sexual abuse because of flawed government
policies.

The New York-based group called on the government to give the
country's 240,000 domestic workers -- more than 90 percent of
them from Indonesia -- the same protection as other employees.

It said Indonesian maids typically work grueling 16 to 18 hour
days, without even a day off.

The low pay and poor working conditions offered in Malaysia
have deterred Indonesian women from seeking employment here,
forcing recruiters to look further afield to Thailand, Cambodia
and Sri Lanka for new recruits. -- AFP