Indonesian maid ‘tortured by HK couple’
Print Edition
Hong Kong police are investigating allegations that a 23-year-old Indonesian maid was tortured by her employers, the latest case to provoke outrage over abuses suffered by the city’s army of foreign domestic workers.
A group representing Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong said yesterday that Erwiana Sulistyaningsih came to the city in May and suffered beatings until returning last week to Indonesia, where she’s being treated in hospital.
The family that employed Sulistyaningsih slapped and punched her every day, according to Sringatin, vice-chair of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union. She said the employers let Sulistyaningsih go back to Indonesia when she could no longer work because of her injuries and gave her just 70 Hong Kong dollars (US$9).
Sulistyaningsih needed a friend to help her at the airport because she couldn’t walk properly, said Sringatin, who like many Indonesians uses one name.
The case came to light after pictures of Sulistyaningsih’s injuries began circulating among Hong Kong’s Indonesian community. The photographs show scabs and lacerations on her face, hands and legs, and blackened skin around her feet.
Sulistyaningsih’s employers allowed her just four hours sleep a day and insisted that she do the cleaning in a particular order, Sringatin said.
“But if Erwiana cleaned the toilet before cleaning the bedroom, the employer would beat her,” Sringatin said. “When the employer called Erwiana and she didn’t hear, the employer would also assault her.”
Migrant worker groups in Hong Kong held two protests this week, including one yesterday, to bring attention to the case and highlight what they called “modern day slavery.”
In response to an inquiry about the case, police issued a statement saying they were investigating the allegations after receiving a complaint from a maid placement agency about abuse by an employer, without releasing any names.
Indonesian Consulate spokesman Sam Aryadi said Sulistyaningsih is undergoing physical and psychological examinations in Indonesia and may return to Hong Kong to help with the investigation.
There are about 312,000 foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong, with Indonesians accounting for about half and Filipinos making up most of the rest. Most are young women.
Last year, a couple were jailed for torturing their Indonesian maid with a hot iron, a paper cutter and a bicycle chain.
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