NGO condemns torture of RI maid in Singapore

NGO condemns torture of RI maid in Singapore

JAKARTA (JP): A non-governmental organization says the alleged
torture of a teenage Indonesian maid in Singapore depicts the
dangers faced by many Indonesian migrant workers.

Women's Solidarity for Human Rights discussed on the weekend
the case of 15-year-old Hartati, who allegedly endured months of
being slapped, beaten and scalded with hot water by her female
employer and her son before fleeing the luxury home.

Solidarity spokesman Wahyu Susilo said 52 Indonesian migrant
workers had died from unspecified causes in Singapore since 1991.
The incidence of violence and abuse was much higher, he added.

Wahyu said the government should take immediate and concrete
action to handle the plight of migrant workers.

The organization urges the government to ratify the 1990
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of
Migrant Workers as "a first step" in providing legal protection
for migrant workers and their families.

Antara reported Saturday that at least 28 Indonesian
housemaids had taken refuge in the Indonesian Embassy in
Singapore due to disputes with their employers.

Commenting on Hartati's case, embassy counselor Entjim
Herrianto said the embassy would file a lawsuit against the
employer if there was proof of a criminal offense.

Officials of the Ministry of Manpower were unavailable for
comment on the weekend.

Hartati's case is garnering media and public attention in
Singapore. The country's leading daily The Straits Times ran
articles on her story in its Friday and Saturday editions.

The Times reported that Hartati claimed she was 15 years old,
four years younger than recorded in her work documents. The
minimum age for a foreign domestic maid is 16 in Singapore.

The daily reported Hartati had a mass of welts, bruises and
lacerations when she was rescued earlier last week by two men who
learned of her plight.

Hartati is being treated for malnourishment at the Tan Tock
Seng Hospital, and it was possible she had been denied sufficient
nutrition for the past three weeks, the daily said.

A police spokesman said detectives had interviewed the woman
employer and her 13-year-old son as part of their investigation.
Hartati alleged the abuse occurred at the family's two luxury
condominiums.

The Times reported its readers had reacted with shock and
outrage to its detailing of Hartati's allegations, believed to be
one of the most serious cases of maid abuse in Singapore in
recent years.

"The word for this is sickening," Jimmy Loh, a 49-year-old
manager of a real estate company, told the newspaper by
telephone. "Just look at her face -- it's swollen. Whatever the
employer's reasons may be, the maid doesn't deserve to be treated
this way -- she's a human being."

Hartati was quoted as saying that she had received no payment
during her four months with the family.

"Every day I work many hours," she said. "I wake up at 5 a.m.
to wash the cars at 5:30 a.m. Midnight I sleep on the floor. They
give me some rice and dried fish for lunch and dinner."

A spokesman for the Singapore labor ministry said the family
could face criminal charges and would be barred from employing
domestic workers if there was proof of abuse.

Under Singapore law, a person found guilty of causing grievous
bodily harm with a heated substance, including hot water, could
receive a life prison term.

A 61-year-old grandmother was jailed for five months and fined
1,000 Singapore dollars (US$714.28) for slapping and splashing
hot water on her Filipino maid in a recent case. (aan)