Indonesia’s president is calling for a ban on the practice of sending domestic workers abroad on the back of Hong Kong’s Erwiana maid abuse case.
Last week, Law Wan-tung, 44, was found guilty of 18 charges of abusing her Indonesian domestic helper Erwiana Sulistyaningsih and two other previous maids in a high-profile case that shocked Hong Kong and the world.
Erwiana – who has come to represent the plight of Hong Kong’s more than 300,000 domestic workers, most of who hail from Indonesia and the Philippines – was beaten, starved and denied wages and days off, the court heard.
Law will be sentenced later this month.
Speaking to the national congress over the weekend, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said, ”The practice of Indonesian women going overseas to work as housemaids must stop immediately,” the Straits Times reported. “We should have pride and dignity.”
However, Migrant Care, an NGO focussed on protecting such workers, said a ban would not help the situation.
“All Indonesian citizens have the right to seek decent work and it is the responsibility of the state to protect them, no matter where they work,” executive director Anis Hidayah told the Jakarta Post.
Photo: Meredith McBride via Twitter
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