I just could not bear looking at the photo of the Indonesian maid Siti Hajar who had been brutalised by her employer since she arrived in 2006, and has not even been paid her salary for the last 34 months. Siti Hajar's employer, a 43 year old lady is said to be living in a posh condominium in Mount Kiara, Kuala Lumpur, but her act is not one of a human being, but that of a ragging animal. Even animals has some sense of love towards its own kind.
What has Siti Hajar done to deserve such severe punishment from her employer? This is not the first incident where an Indonesian maid has been brutalised by their employers, but there has been several others. It is strange that the beatings have gone unnoticed by the neighbourhood.
If indeed Siti Hajar is incompetent in her work, she should have been send back home, or returned to her agent. Manhandling a fellow human being who is here to earn an honest living, without any sense of pity is committing a most heinous crime. And worse still, to have asked the maid who is a Muslim to consume pork, is unforgivable.
I do hope that the 43 year old lady employer will be punished severely; and not merely a fine or a jail term, but a whipping that will leave a scar for the rest of her life; just like that of her maid.
CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION
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5 comments:
Dear Dato',
I hope the governemnt decides to impose a heavier punishment to maid abusers. What is actually perplexing is the fact that they (the abusers) fail to realise that these maids are HUMAN BEINGS who braved the seas to come here and earn some money for their family.
These inhumane employers are behaving as if the maids are lesser beings and would have no second thoughts about subjecting their maids to physical abuse.
In where I live, most household have Indonesian/Filipino maids. I do not understand why the Filipino maids were not abused physically while the Indonesians were. Can we assume that this is due to the communication breakdown between the maid and employer?
My immediate neighbour's maid feigned of being possessed by evil spirits just to escape her employer. She had to wake up at 4 and prepare the items required for the employer's cafeteria and had to work in the cafeteria until 10 p.m. Once home, the household chores will be waiting.
Another neighbour's maid had to endure constant beatings from both husband and wife on a daily basis. When the maid was seen with a swollen face one day, we thought that this is the last straw. We (a few neighbours) confronted the husband by telling him that we are taking his maid to the police. If he refused, then we will call the police. This put to a stop and after two years, the maid was sent home. Thank god, they don't have a maid now.
I personally think that the government should be strict with the employment of maids. From what I observe, some Muslims maids who work in a non-Muslim homes were required to wash the dogs and handled pork. This is utterly insensitive on the part of the employer. The solution would be that non-Muslims employers should be allowed to bring in only non-Muslim maids from either Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Philippines or Vietnam while Muslims should be allowed to hire Muslim maids only.
This hopefully will resolve the problem. Perhaps the employers should also be required to sign an undertaking not to physically abuse the maid and if they are unhappy, the maids are to be returned to the agency to be disciplined.
What do you say Dato'?
Dato' the government should send those guilty parties to work in Indonesia as part of the punishment or jail sentence!
Without pay and with only minimum food and water!
We all feel sorry for Siti Hajar for all her sufferings and ill-treatment by her employer who is worst than animals.
It is very interesting to note that this case is being higlighted in the media when the Ambalat issue
has been making headlines in Indonesia and Malaysia... and on the eve of Indonesian presidential
election.
Can somebody smell there is a very well ochestrated "network of instigators" to fan the "flame of
hatred" between Indonesia and
Malaysia?
I know that I have been reading a lot of James Bond and ACA stories but in to-day's world nothing is impossible!
I hope our competent groups of intelligence community do their homework and establish how this Siti Hajar case surafced only after almost 3 years since she was employed. Who is the reporter?
Is the reporter just doing the normal routine journalism duties or otherwise?
I am aware of various steps being taken by leaders of both Indonesia
and Malaysia to "reduce the heat".
Having a very vast experience working in area of Indonesia-Malaysia bilateral relation I am very confident that both sides have special ways not to allow the "flame" from spreading.
Your neighbours may have local or foreign maids. When they are out, get your maid, you or somebody in the family say "Hello, how are you?" to her... a way to reduce the chances of "Siti Hajar" case happening again.
The conspiracy theory has some relevance as the hundreds of thousands of Indonesian maids working in our countries would surely be used by the Indonesian Intelligence to collect information.
Imagine the kind of information which could be collected from Indonesian maids working with Ministers, KSUs, Military,Police,Government Heads of Department households!
Incompetent indeed considering her employement got extended to 3 years.
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