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Domestic worker abuse cases show lack of government protection
LN was accused of stealing food and money, and as a punishment, the employer reportedly locked her inside a bathroom without food for five days.
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A domestic worker reportedly died of exhaustion and hunger after being locked inside a restroom without food for five days. (Shutterstock/File)
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recent abuse case that saw a domestic worker allegedly locked in a restroom for five days and starved to death in North Jakarta highlighted the perennial issue of lack of protection for such workers.
The 20-year-old domestic worker, identified as LN, had reportedly endured abuse while working for TVL over four years in Muara Karang.
North Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Budhi Herdi Susianto said the 51-year-old TVL would abuse LN if the latter failed to complete her tasks.
“If she failed to iron clothes up to the employer’s standard, the suspect would attack her using an iron and even a pestle,” Budhi said, adding that LN was never allowed to visit her hometown in all the years she worked for TVL.
Last week, LN was accused of stealing food and money, and as a punishment, the employer reportedly locked her inside a bathroom without food for five days.
LN was found dead on Monday. “The victim was thin and covered in bruises, new and old ones,” Budhi said on Tuesday as reported by kompas.com.
TVL took LN’s body to Atma Jaya funeral home, where the management became suspicious of the bruises.
