You have to wonder how people can treat another fellow human being with such brutality. Maybe the punishment should be to bring the couple to Jakarta for a chat session with the Ganyang Malaysia loonies.
Shouldn’t the Malaysian government state its viewpoint on cases such as this?
Indonesian Maid Dies After Brutal Beating in Malaysia
An Indonesian maid who was found beaten in the home of her Malaysian employers died on Monday, after being hospitalized nearly a week, officials said.
Her employers, a Malaysian couple from Klang Selangor, about 50 kilometers from Kuala Lumpur, were arrested and face murder charges, according to an Indonesian Embassy official.
The victim, Muntik Binti Bani, 39, a migrant worker from Jember, East Java, died at Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang Selangor, said Widyarka Ryananta, the embassy’s information, social and cultural affairs counsellor.
“Her backbone was broken, so was her right wrist, and there were bruises on her face,” Widyarka said. “It is clear that she had been beaten.”Muntik was found in a bathroom when police raided the family’s home on Oct. 20 on a tip-off from a local resident.
When she was rescued, she couldn’t move her legs, and Widyarka said that when the Indonesian ambassador, Da’i Bachtiar, visited her on Friday, her condition had worsened and she couldn’t communicate.
via Indonesian Maid Dies After Brutal Beating in Malaysia – The Jakarta Globe.
Unspun 
“You have to wonder how people can treat another fellow human being with such brutality.”
It’s simple. Dehumanisation. Someone of a different nationality, and a lower social status – may as well be a dog as far as some people are concerned.
This culture of maid abuse is a pervasive sickness in Malaysia. And it’s only going to get worse, I think – imagine the effect on the Malaysian children growing up now who are witnessing their parents’ contemptuous treatment of their maids.
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“.. how people can treat another fellow human being with such brutality”??
See how those law enforcers beaten “suspects” to dead while in custody?
Correction: We don’t “see” it, but we were informed that either these suspects commit suicide or die a sudden dead. Case closed.
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this is not 1st case in malaysia..is malaysia the only place to work?
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You just can’t generalize Malaysian to be all the same. There are good malaysians as well as bad Malaysians as there are good Indonesians as well as bad Indonesians. While you keep hearing maids are ill treated in Malaysia, we also hear some illegal Indonesian workers killed and robbed the locals. Some even enticed the young malaysian girls to follow them and became young mothers, separated from family and friends and their bright future.
We condemn anybody with commit barbaric acts, whoever they are, from whichever country they come because humanity is a global issue, not just Malaysians, not just Indonesians.
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@ Zane – please don’t misunderstand. I don’t think anyone is saying that this represents all Malaysians, or that some Indonesians don’t also do terrible things, or that this problem is solely confined to Malaysia (maid abuse is rife in the Gulf States as well, for example). But I think it is undeniable that this problem of maid abuse is shocking, serious and widespread in Malaysia.
Rather than getting defensive, any Malaysian who loves their country needs to get real about this situation and try to change things.
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I have been feeling Indonesian maid program should have stopped already. Indonesian people used to hire home maids and never treat them as a slave. Unfortunately, people in Malaysia or Middle East don’t have the same approach and attitude.
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@ Hedi – there’s no need to stop the program – it would just mean higher unemployment for poor Indonesians. Rather, the governments of both countries need to work out a better deal for the maids. Filipino maids tend to get treated considerably better, due to their government’s firmer stance on this issue.
I’m sure that maid abuse goes on within Indonesia as well. But it is not as prevalent, and I’m sure it is largely because they are the same nationality, whereas there is an element of racism in the case of Malaysia.
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The reason why you hardly hear about Filipino maids is not only due to their government stance but also to their higher education level, better salary and the fact that they’ve a day off to compare notes with their friends.
As stated that this issue is also prevalent in Gulf States, why then Indonesian papers hardly ever mention it? Why maid issues in Singapore are hardly known in Indonesia although it’s published in Singapore papers? Is it because Indonesian reporters don’t like to read English papers or because it’s easier to ganyang Malaysia? I’m not saying I support brutalities but rather fairness in reporting. There’re hundred of thousands of employer and how do you control each one of them to conform to human rights? Do you get them to attend classes before they can hire maids, just like classes for those getting married? The law is there to punish those who misbehave and it works.
If you believe that Malaysians will not treat Indonesian nicely, then they don’t need to come. Will you go to a restaurant that doesn’t provide a service level to your standard?
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@ Farid – the “if you don’t like it, don’t come” mentality, comparing this situation to restaurant service is frankly ridiculous. In a restaurant, the customer has the power. Indonesia is a poor country, and the people who become maids are among the poorest. They are relatively powerless in this situation.
And saying in effect, “Other countries do it too, why single Malaysia out?” is no better than a schoolboy excuse in my opinion. One reason this abuse continues in Malaysia is because so many people continue to make excuses and want to believe it’s not so bad.
The better salary and day off for Filipino maids is largely because their government has worked out a better deal for them. For whatever the reason, the Indonesian government has not been able to do this.
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few months ago indonesia government decided to stop the maid program temporarily for salary issue.. maybe they can do the same thing for this case..
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normally, if a maid has a permit and came in via an agent, the agent will keep a tab on her. Every few months the agent will call up and ask how things are. This is one area the government can formalise to make agents take some of the responsibility for ensuring the welfare of the maids they brought in.
In the case of Muntik she ran away from her legal employer for whatever reason and ended up working illegally with an employer who is an ex-convict and a drug user.
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