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