Underage maid abused by fellow servants

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Many housemaids are treated poorly -- and often abused -- by their employers owing to a glaring lack of legal protection.

The case of Sri Mulyanti, 14, was slightly different from the norm. Her employer treated her so well that the other servants became upset and actually assaulted the maid.

Sri left her hometown of Ngawi, East Java, in August 2001 to find a job in Jakarta as a housemaid.

She was eventually recruited by Ratna, who sent her to take care her paralyzed mother-in-law, Meing, 70. The old woman lived in the Lippo Karawaci housing complex in Tangerang with her son, Andreas, along with three other servants, Ciying, 50; her son, Effendi, 26, and Eno Sukaesih, 50.

It turned out that the wheelchair-bound Meing trusted Sri more than the others, even though Meing had regarded Ciying as her "foster son," according to Sri.

Sri said that Ciying and Effendi were deeply jealous of her. By the forth month, Ciying and Effendi had begun looking for excuses to blame her mistakes around the house, and beat her up.

In January, a neighbor maid, who grew suspicious upon seeing her repeatedly wounded face, told the security guards at the residential complex.

Ciying, Effendi and Eno are now on trial before the Tangerang District Court. Prosecutor Victor Silitonga asked the court on Tuesday to sentence the defendants to two years in imprisonment each.

Sri, who had been hospitalized with her wounds, still looked pale."The bruises have begun to heal, but I have a headache almost every day," she told The Jakarta Post at the district court last week.