The Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia, Hermono was enraged over the latest abuse of a domestic worker who is now hospitalised with severe lacerations on her face and injuries to both her ears sustained from allegedly being beaten by her employer.
Zailis, 46, who declined to be named in full, broke down when she saw Hermono by her bedside at the Selayang Hospital yesterday, two days after she fled her abusive employer.
"She has severe injuries on her left side and her left eye is swollen. Both arms are badly hurt and I am not sure what other internal injuries she has sustained.
"She is also being treated for an old broken arm injury sustained when her employer allegedly beat her but had never sought to treat her injuries.
"Zailis was forced to continue working with a broken arm and other injuries like having hot water splashed on her back," Hermono, who goes by one name, told Malaysiakini after his visit to the hospital.
Based on Zailis’ description of her employer’s treatment, Hermono said she had endured three years of torture, which was unacceptable.
According to Hermono, abusive employers appear to be unconcerned about the legal ramifications of their actions.
"This is why abuse, exploitation and forced labour of domestic workers persist.
"Employers who are caught must be dealt the severest punishment under the law as a lesson to others.
"We want to see maximum punishment meted out to this abusive employer as the cruelty inflicted is beyond human belief," he said.
This is the latest case of domestic worker abuse that has come to light following the Federal Court acquittal of Ambika MA Shanmugam, 67, in June this year for the death of her domestic worker, Adelina Lisao, in 2018.
Disappointed the case was not given serious consideration, the embassy is in discussions with Jakarta on filing a civil suit against her employer for negligence that led to Adelina’s death.
Adelina was 28 when she died at the Bukit Mertajam Hospital, succumbing to severe infections on her limbs and wounds on her face and head.
In April, Malaysia signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Indonesia that featured progressive new clauses, addressing the employment and protection of the latter’s domestic workers.
Hermono said the MOU was designed to bring an end to such abuses but was shocked to find such cases continuing to happen.
"We continue to receive cases of unpaid salary every day," he said, describing the blatant flouting of the law by employers of domestic workers.
Domestic workers are deemed to be the most vulnerable sector of workers who are predominantly women, whose place of employment is within the confines of a residential household.
And abuses that occur there are rarely reported because workers can easily be confined to the same premise.
Housewife detained for questioning
Similarly, Hermono explained that Zailis, who is from West Sumatra, was never allowed to call home, even to speak to her two children or leave the house on her own.
"Her abusive employer is a mother herself, yet this abuse went on for years," said a livid Hermono.
Zailis’ alleged abuser, a 35-year-old mother of two, was arrested in her home in Taman Industri Bolton in Batu Caves and remanded yesterday for further investigation.
No other information about the employer was available as of press time.
"In the three years Zailis was working in this house, she was paid only RM900 for each of the first three months and has not received any salary after that.
"She was never given a day off and her passport was withheld," Hermono said, listing the multiple elements of abuse that correspond with the International Labour Organization's forced labour indicators.
On that note, Zailis alleged that her latest injuries were sustained on the morning of Aug 30, when she was cleaning the house and her employer suddenly started beating her face and back with wood.
By 11am, Zailis, who bears scars of brutal beatings she endured since her arrival, decided to flee her prison-like employment premise while her employer slept.
A stranger helped to send her to the Gombak police station whose officers, upon seeing her injuries, took her to the hospital, described Hermono.
Hermono said the embassy would monitor the case closely.
Although Zailis was a victim of several forced labour practices, Hermono said he was not sure if the case was being investigated under the newly amended Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (Amendment) Act 2022, which was recently strengthened with harsher sentences.
Other domestic workers waiting for justice
Hermono said Zailis would remain under police protection for the duration of the investigation into her abuse and the hospital director has assured him that a thorough examination would be carried out to ascertain the extent of her injuries - internal and external.
"She will remain in the hospital until she is fully recovered," he said.
In May, a month after the MOU was signed, Sentul police were called to investigate a physically abused domestic worker, whose employer had allegedly beat, punched and dragged her out of the house and shoved her into a car before driving off and abandoning her.
Ningrat (not her real name) was also treated in hospital for wounds she claimed were sustained from beatings and from being dragged by her employer.
Her employer, Harlem Shah, who continued to employ Ningrat for four years, had claimed he was afraid for his family’s safety as she had shown signs of "craziness" shortly after her arrival.
Meanwhile, the police investigation into the case was still underway.
Hermono said the investigation into the criminal allegations as well as the investigation into her unpaid wages by the Labour Department was taking too long to conclude.
While Harlem claimed to have paid all of Ningrat’s wages through Western Union money transfer to her aunt in Indonesia with no receipts to show, Ningrat alleged that only a total of RM1,800 had been paid over the four years she had worked for him.
"We want the investigations to be conducted swiftly as it has been too slow.
"We want to see equality and the law being fully enforced," said Hermono. - Mkini
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