JOHOR BARU: A husband and wife have been detained by the police to assist in investigations of alleged abuse of an Indonesian maid.
It is learnt that the couple, in their 20s, was arrested in Batu Pahat after they fled from their home in Taman D'Utama here to avoid being detained by the police.
It is believed that the couple had used hot water, a hot ladle and a hockey stick to abuse their maid.
Johor Baru (North) OCPD Asst Comm Ruslan Hassan said police arrested the couple at their relative's house at Rengit in Batu Pahat on Monday night around 9pm.
"After they avoided arrest twice, we learned that they were hiding in Batu Pahat. However, we managed to locate them.
"They turned themselves in after police arrived at the house," he said Wednesday.
He added that the couple was being remanded for seven days to assist in the investigations.
The case was being investigated under Section 326 of the Penal Code for causing harm using weapons, which provides for a jail sentence of up to 20 years and a fine or whipping upon conviction.
ACP Ruslan added that the maid was still receiving treatment for her injuries at the Hospital Sultanah Aminah.
It was recently reported that the 24-year-old maid had run away from her employers after being allegedly abused by them for the past nine months.
She claimed that her employers would get angry with her over minor things and beat her up.
Summary of the article
A married couple in their early 20s was arrested by the police to assist in investigations of alleged abuse of an Indonesian maid. The police managed to find them in Batu Pahat at their relative's house at Rengit in Batu Pahat on Monday night around 9pm after they fled from their home in Taman D'Utama to avoid being detained by the police. In the past, they have avoided arrest twice. It is discovered that the couple used hot water, a hot ladle and a hockey stick to abuse their maid over minor things. The 24 year-old maid ran away after taking in nine months' of abuse and currently is receiving treatment for her injuries at the Hospital Sultanah Aminah. The couple is being remanded for seven days to assist in the investigations under Section 326 of the Penal Code for causing harm using weapons, which provides for a jail sentence of up to 20 years and a fine or whipping upon conviction.
Opinion
I do not think that 20 years of jail is enough to justify what the couple did. Non-
parole should be included in the charges. What the couple did to the maid can never be
redress. We need to critically address the conditions that enabled the couple to systematically and continuously harm her domestic worker in order to stop
this kind of act from continuing. It is not only the couple who are responsible.
The government is equally responsible. The conditions of work are not
regulated. The employer is given the right to hold the passport of the domestic
worker. There is neither a law nor a standardized contract to protect all
domestic workers. The government provided the condition of isolation by not
giving a paid day off. And consequently, it opened the doors for abuse and
exploitation. In fact, the maid was in a trafficked situation where she was
in servitude, in a form of slavery condition. Besides that, Indonesian
domestic workers who form more than 80 percent of all domestic workers earn
shamefully low wages, between RM400-600 but work very long hours a day. They do
not get their wages for six months or more as deductions are made to repay the
exorbitant recruitment fees charged by recruitment agencies. The work
conditions and tasks are undefined and thus many of them not only take of
babies and household chores but also cook and even take care of the elderly.
These practices tantamount to a form of modern-day slavery. To stop this, the
governments need to strengthen the laws. How? By making the agencies have
contracts to allow the domestic workers work for only a limited amount of hours
per day, be given at least a day off a week, allow them to have a gathering at
a place organized for them on their day off to mingle around with other
domestic workers so that they will not be isolated. In addition, employers that
abuse their domestic workers should be sentence to jail with no parole, high
amount of fine and whipping.
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