Senior official off to KL for maid abuse case

Senior official off to KL for maid abuse case

Ridwan M. Sijabat and Adianto P. Simamora , Jakarta

One day after Malaysia offered an official apology to a young Indonesian maid, who was repeatedly beaten and burned with a hot iron by her employer, a senior official of the Indonesian Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration flew to Kuala Lumpur to deal with the abuse case.

Chief spokesman for the manpower ministry Hotma Pandjaitan said that his office had assigned a senior official to handle the maid abuse case, and would provide legal assistance for the victim Nirmala Daniel Bonet, 19, during the trial.

"While waiting for the Malaysian authorities' response to the case, a director has been already assigned to deal with Nirmala's medical treatment in Kuala Lumpur and to hire a senior lawyer to bring the case to court," he said on Friday.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar apologized to Nirmala in a meeting at the Indonesian Embassy on Thursday.

"As a representative of the government, we apologize and wish to extend our sympathies to her and her family," Noh said as quoted by the New Straits Times. "We regret it and on a personal note, I strongly condemn the cruel act."

Noh said stern action would be taken against the maid's employer as "we do not want the international community to have a negative perception of the country as the news spreads across the world".

Nirmala, who is from East Nusa Tenggara province, entered Malaysia legally in September to work as a domestic helper.

She was found crying outside her employer's apartment on Monday by a security guard who called the police. Police were shocked to find that the young girl bore burn marks all over her body, from her inner thighs to her breasts, and immediately alerted the Indonesian Embassy before sending her for treatment.

Nirmala claimed that the daily beatings and burnings began in December, when she broke a mug and was punished by having boiling water poured over her.

"One day, (my employer) got upset while I was ironing. She said the clothes had not been properly ironed and slapped me.

"She took the iron out of my hand and pressed it against my breasts," Nirmala was quoted as saying by the Star daily.

In another development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty Natalegawa said that his office would also send a diplomatic note to the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta.

"We will send a diplomatic note to the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta in order to ask the Malaysian authorities to take stern and fair action in this case," Marty told a media briefing on Friday.

Horrific photos of Nirmala were splashed across all major newspapers in Malaysia on Thursday.

In responding to the abuse case, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he was "shocked and outraged" at the abuse inflicted on Nirmala and pledged that the perpetrators of the "heinous crime" would be brought to justice swiftly.

"It is shameful; it is despicable and it is painful for Malaysians to see another human being tortured like this," Abdullah said in remarks published by the New Straits Times on Friday.

Abdullah's deputy, Najib Razak, said such abuse was not part of Malaysia's culture and that "we should not do this even to animals, what more to a human being".

"We must send a very strong signal that we will not tolerate any abuse of foreign labor in this country," he said.

The country's top legal officer, Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail, described the abuser as a "monster", and said the perpetrator could be jailed for up to 80 years.