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View all search resultsMaid's torture highlights lack of legal protections
After months of torture by her employer, the 24-year-old now walks with a limp and has visible burn scars along her legs.
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eaten, forced to eat animal feces and chained to a dog cage, the abuse of a maid highlights the government's failure to protect domestic workers at home even as it moves to help those abroad, critics say.
Siti Khotimah left her Central Java hometown for Jakarta last year when she found a maid job on Facebook to help her parents with debt.
After months of torture by her employer, the 24-year-old now walks with a limp and has visible burn scars along her legs.
"My head hurts every time I think about what happened to me," she said, sobbing.
Khotimah's case is not uncommon, as Indonesia is the largest democracy without a bill to protect domestic workers, leaving more than four million people, mostly women, vulnerable to abuse.
Her wealthy 70-year-old employer in south Jakarta was jailed for four years for physical abuse last month, while the woman's husband, daughter and six other maids were all handed three-and-a-half years.
Khotimah told AFP she was also raped during her employment, but was unable to initially talk about it. She has since informed police who advised her to file a separate lawsuit for sexual abuse.
