Maid rescued from Malaysian tower

Asia-Pacific

Maid makes desperate bid to escape, claiming months of abuse by employer.

Last Modified: 18 Jun 2007 14:01 GMT

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Shamelin tried the escape using a rope made
of pieces of cloth tied together [Reuters]

Firefighters in Malaysia have rescued an Indonesian Indonesian housemaid clinging to a 12th storey condominium window ledge after she tried to escape an abusive employer.

The maid, identified in Malaysian newspapers as Shamelin, said she was driven to desperation after suffering months of beatings and starvation at the hands of her employer.

She told reporters after her rescue at the weekend that she had tied together sarongs and other pieces of cloth to escape from the 15th floor apartment where her employer had kept her locked up as a virtual prisoner.

However, she said she became stuck on a 12^th floor ledge when she froze in terror realising how high up she was.

"She has a bad temper," Shamelin told Malaysia's New Straits Times of her employer.

"If I make a mistake, she will starve me. She has hurt me so many times by beating me."

Photographs showed a badly bruised Shamelin being driven to a local hospital for treatment.

She was later handed over to the Indonesia embassy with police saying they would be interviewing her employer.

Beatings

Shamelin said she had endured months of
beatings and starvation [Reuters]

The case is the latest in a long line of claims of ill-treatment by domestic helpers in

Malaysia

at the hands of their employers.

Many complain of beatings, including scalding with irons and having boiling water thrown over them, but prosecutions of abusive employers are rare.

Some 380,000 overseas maids are employed in Malaysia, most working long hours for low pay.

Most are also obliged to surrender their passports to their employers or agents as a condition of employment, meaning they cannot easily leave.

According to the Malaysian officials hundreds of maids flee from their employers every month, many claiming ill treatment, but the government has refused to pass legislation on working conditions for domestic helpers.