Malaysia court sentences woman to 8 years in jail for scalding Indonesian housemaid
By APThursday, May 20, 2010
Malaysia woman handed 8 years’ jail for maid abuse
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A Malaysian court sentenced a woman to eight years in prison Thursday for scalding her Indonesian housemaid with hot water and assaulting her with scissors and a hammer.
The case was one of several involving the abuse of Indonesian domestic workers that strained ties between Indonesia and Malaysia last year, causing Indonesia to stop supplying new maids to its neighbor.
Hau Yuan Tyng, a 44-year-old single mother of two, pleaded innocent last June to charges of assaulting Siti Hajar Sadli — in one case allegedly using hot water; in another, a hammer; and in a third, a pair of scissors.
A Kuala Lumpur district court convicted her Thursday but allowed her to remain free on bail pending an appeal, said her lawyer, M. Manoharan. She had faced a maximum penalty of 43 years in prison.
Siti Hajar, 34, ran away last June after working for Hau for three years in a luxury condominium. Photographs of her reddened, scalded body were widely publicized, sparking anger in Indonesia, whose President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pledged to seek justice for her.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak met with Yudhoyono earlier this week and said Indonesia is expected to soon end its freeze on allowing recruiting companies to send new maids, after both sides agreed on measures to improve the welfare of the domestic workers.
Some 230,000 Indonesian maids work in Malaysia. Hundreds of them complain to the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur every year of unpaid salaries, overwork and sometimes physical abuse.
