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| Southeast Asia |
| Maid abuse case shocks Malaysia |
| 2004-05-20 |
| An Indonesian maid has told a harrowing story of how she was repeatedly burnt with an iron and scalded with boiling water by her Malaysian employer’s wife. Nirmala Bonat, 19, told reporters she had been abused on a daily basis for the last five months. Malaysian newspapers carried front-page photos of her horrific bruises and scars, in what police claim is the country’s worst case of maid abuse. She has now been given shelter at the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Her alleged abuser has been arrested and could face a long jail term. Nirmala Bonat’s plight was exposed after a guard at one of Kuala Lumpur’s wealthy condominiums saw her crying, and spotted the horrific bruises on her face. The guard immediately called police, who were shocked to find that the maid’s whole body - including her breasts and back - were severely burnt, The Star newspaper reported. Nirmala Bonat said the abuse began when she accidentally broke a mug about five months ago. "She [the employer’s wife] then threw boiling water on me," the maid told reporters. "One day she got upset while I was ironing. She said the clothes had not been properly ironed and slapped me. She took the iron out of my hand and pressed it against my breasts. "When I go back, what am I going to tell my parents when they see all the scars?" the maid said. Nirmala Bonat said she came to Malaysia last September, hoping to help support her parents, who are Indonesian farmers. More than 200,000 foreigners are believed to work in Malaysian homes. The country is the second largest destination for Indonesian maids after Saudi Arabia. Many middle class Malaysian families rely on domestic staff, who are typically paid less than $100 a month. EMPHASIS ADDED Kind of makes you wonder what’s happening to all the "maids" in Saudi Arabia. If you remain unsure of why misogynistic Islamic culture must be compelled to reform, just go to the article and examine this woman’s photo. |
| Posted by:Zenster |
| #8 Nirmala Bonat's abuser has turned out to be Chinese. Her name is Yim Pek Ha. It just goes to show that one needs to do their homework before making blind accusations. |
| Posted by: Anonymous5013 2004-05-26 3:12:59 PM |
| #7 Everything said here is spot-on. What you see for yourself (I once recounted discovering a Fillipino nurse who had been imprisoned in one of the apartments in the bldg I lived in back in '92) is corroborated by everyone who has been there long enough. The only thing that ever amazes me about these stories now is when a Saudi is forced to face the music - a rare event, indeed, and prolly only indicative of a Saudi without connections getting uppity. I echo The Doctor's comment, A3964, plz stick around and contribute! |
| Posted by: .com 2004-05-20 9:23:32 PM |
| #6 I have to laugh every time I see the Arabs condemning us for "human rights violations," and how those annoying groups yell at us instead of looking at what they should be. They quite simply do not have the right to condemn others for what they themselves are guilty of, not until they realize how screwed up their own affairs are. If they try to work on them, fine, then they can say something. Not until. And, hey, Anon3694, are you Saudi? Get yourself a proper name and start posting! We could use an insider! |
| Posted by: The Doctor 2004-05-20 8:59:27 PM |
| #5 Anon3964, I've heard a lot about the Saudi abuse of their foreign workers. Often times the worker is 'stuck' in virtual slavery since 1) they are in debt to their recruiter for their recruitment and airfair and 2) they have little, if any, rights. They sometimes cannot even speak more than a smattering of the language. Often they do not even have access to their passport. It is not uncommon for a Filipina to be raped repeatably by her employer or his sons (or both) and simply have to endure it because she has no rights and cannot afford to go back home. I am assuming that this woman (from Indoneasia) is Muslim. The Filipino's have it worse since they are not even muslim. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-05-20 7:22:25 PM |
| #4 Remember the Saudi "princess" who threw her Phillipine maid down the stairs in Miami a year or so ago? She didn't see anything wrong with it. She was arrested, but left the country. Maybe I missed it, but I don't think she came back for a trial. Riyadh delenda est! |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-05-20 6:13:59 PM |
| #3 Authoritarian societies (and yes, I consider tribal societies to be authoritarian) always save their loudest accusations for precisely those things they are the most guilty of. Thus if they accuse us of humiliating prisoners, they are systematically torturing them. We treat our women like whores? They rape and abuse their servants. If we are accused of exposing our children to pornography, then pederasty is out of control over there. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2004-05-20 5:57:49 PM |
| #2 Anonymous3964: For anybody who has ever lived in the Middle East and has witnessed how minorities are abused here, America self-flagellation for the "abuse" of the prisoners in Iraq is imcomprehensible and laughable. Especially when you consider that the prisoners humiliated had been armed terorists, whereas the abused women were just doing household chores for a living. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-05-20 5:30:52 PM |
| #1 I can tell you what is happening with the maids here, in Saudi Arabia. Besides being paid slave wages, they are physically (beatings and rapes) and mentally abused. The Sri Lankan and Philippines Consulates here have special rooms for run away maids. What does that tell you? For anybody who has ever lived in the Middle East and has witnessed how minorities are abused here, America self-flagellation for the "abuse" of the prisoners in Iraq is imcomprehensible and laughable. |
| Posted by: Anonymous3964 2004-05-20 5:24:53 PM |