When will Adelina Lisao’s family get justice?

 

On Feb 11, 2018, Indonesian Adelina Lisao died after being allegedly abused by her employer. She was only 28 years old.

Despite having bruises on her head and face, her employer failed to seek medical treatment for her. It was said that her employer and adult children feared that Adelina’s pus-filled wounds would infect them, so they forced her to sleep under the porch beside the family dog.

To this day, Adelina’s former employer who allegedly tortured her remains unpunished. The court should have reconvened on Jan 24, but her former employer did not turn up in court, claiming illness.

When will Adelina’s family get justice?

A few months before Adelina died, Cambodian maid Mey Sichan, 24, weighed just 26kg when she died. She was lighter than the baggage allowance given by most airlines on economy class.

Many maids have died at the hands of their employers. Those who take them in are not uneducated people, nor are they from the lower classes. Many are wealthy, highly educated men and women from the affluent parts of our society.

A number of maids have harrowing stories to relate. While not all employers are wicked, there are many who are pure evil. They consider their helpers their personal slaves. They think that having spent thousands of ringgit on agency fees, they own their maids and can treat them as they see fit.

One domestic helper has told of how life with her employer was like being in prison. Once the gates to the property are shut, they feel trapped and vulnerable.

Most maids do not want special treatment and only desire a fair, decent and honest working relationship. They left their comfort zones and travelled thousands of kilometres to earn a living, but many employers think they are potential thieves and lazy people.

Without their maids, the employers cannot live a life of luxury and comfort. Who will clean the house, cook, wash and take care of the children and their elderly parents?

Many social climbers are also the ones who are most likely to employ illegal maids. While they are desperate to show off their wealth, they are also too mean to afford a decent maid, and will happily settle for an illegal one. They are high society hypocrites.

Here are some of the ways that maids are being mistreated:

1. Personal mail is opened and read, before it is given to the maid, if at all.

2. Forcing the maid to work from 6am to 11pm, seven days a week, without adequate rest, breaks and privacy time.

3. Not allowing the maid to receive phone calls from her family, especially when she is worried about a serious illness involving a family member.

4. Each time the maid receives a phone call from her family, her phone is confiscated. In many cases, the employer will eavesdrop on the maid’s personal conversation, if the call is allowed to be received.

5. When a glass or plate is broken, a huge sum of money is deducted from the maid’s salary, even if it was only an accident.

6. The maid’s salary is not paid at the end of the month but only handed to her on her final exit from Malaysia. Many find that they are not given interest on their salaries, which can be withheld for as long as three years.

7. The maid’s passport is confiscated as an insurance to stop her from running away. Hanging on to the passport is illegal.

8. Many helpers have no place to complain, even in abusive or unsatisfactory work conditions which are different from what they are told before they begin work. For instance, a new employer may say the family consists of two adults and two children, but when the maid arrives, she finds that she has to cook, clean and manage a large household consisting of many elderly adults, teenagers and babies. Imagine having to look after someone else’s spoilt children, when her own children are without their mother.

9. Many helpers find the situation stressful. They are abused, scolded and slapped.

10. Some maids face sexual assaults, and do not know how to lodge complaints. They are fearful that no one will believe the word of a maid, especially if the employer is a “Datuk”.

So, what should maids do if they are threatened and warned not to lodge complaints with their agencies or even with their country’s embassy?

The reality is that thousands of foreign maids undergo all forms of exploitation from their employers in this country. Where helpers have died, their blood is on our hands.

Why is it so difficult to get justice for Adelina Lisao? - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.