T

he women who were allegedly abused by their boss, retail business owner Ricky Ahluwalia, still managed to smile and joke at the Central Jakarta Police Station after reporting their experiences.

The women were reporting a Sunday "meeting" that entailed violent and degrading treatment, such as slapping employees in the face, calling them names and forcing them to crawl on all fours like animals.

The abuse allegedly took place in a meeting at the company's main office in Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta.

The incident left some of them physically and mentally scarred.

"At first I was summoned to his *Ricky's* room. He then asked me if I wanted things done quickly or slowly, before slapping me twice in the face," said Nurhayati, who previously worked as a senior sales employee in one of Ricky's 11 clothes stores in South Jakarta.

After he slapped her, Nurhayati was forced to sign a letter stating that she had stolen from the company. Before exiting the room, she was slapped in the face again three times.

Nurhayati said that afterwards she, along with around 20 other employees were forced to attend a violent meeting, which involved several of the employees being slapped around and ridiculed.

She claimed that she had no idea what was happening earlier that day and thought it would be a regular staff meeting.

However, several incidents had preceded that Sunday's incident.

"At first several of the employees reported a supervisor who was said to be embezzling the company's money to the boss *Ricky*, but then he got angry and called them all thieves," said Poltak Sinaga, from the Jakarta branch of Indonesian Human Rights and Legal Aid Association (PBHI).

Soviyanti, who formerly worked as a supervisor at one of Ricky's retail stores, said the employees were also forced to sign contracts stating that their salary would be slashed by 20 to 30 percent for next three months.

After being summoned individually, at around 10 p.m. that night the employees were then gathered in another room and were abused verbally and physically by Ricky and two other men: corporate supervisor Suhari and Kadut, said Detty Amelia, another alleged victim.

"He *Ricky* told Suhari to slap the employees. Some of the employees were told to slap each other," Detty said.

Soviyanti said that she received humiliating treatment in front of her colleagues.

"He *Ricky* told me to crawl on my hands and knees like a dog. He also threw his sandal in my direction and told me to lick it. I obeyed," she said.

Soviyanti said the tortured employees, who were all female, were too scared to defend themselves.