Are Indonesia Maids Safe in Hong Kong?

 

Like millions of poor but ambitious young women before her, Rohyati, 26, travelled to Hong Kong to work as a domestic helper.

The daughter of rice farmers from Java, Indonesia, she had previously worked for two years in Singapore.

But when her father died, leaving her to provide for her three younger siblings, she decided to try her luck in China's international financial capital.

Hong Kong is traditionally a sought-after destination for domestic workers because of the relatively high wages offered, a guaranteed rest day once a week and other legal protections not offered in other places.

But, says Rohyati, just two weeks into her job as a full-time, live-in maid, her employer's mother slapped her because the elderly woman, who spoke only Cantonese, was frustrated at being unable to communicate.

Over the next two months, she says she was slapped, punched and choked by her boss as well.
"I don't know why she hit me. At times she seemed to care about my welfare. She would ask if I was comfortable or had enough to eat," said Rohyati.

"But she would suddenly turn violent. Maybe she was feeling overworked, or upset about still being single," she recalls from the safety of a shelter run by a charity.

''Be Patient''

New  hires from Indonesia routinely make less than the legal monthly minimum wage of HK$4,010 ($517, £308), until after they prove themselves in their jobs, he adds.

 Amnesty International wrote in a November report that thousands of Indonesian women trafficked to Hong Kong faced "slavery-like" conditions, and that the Jakarta and Hong Kong governments had failed to protect them from abuse and exploitation.


Before arriving in Hong Kong, Rohyati says she received three months' training from a centre in Semarang City in Java, where she learned how to cook, care for babies and the elderly, and some basic Cantonese.

Her salary in the new job was HK$3,920, less than the legal minimum. From that, she had to pay HK$2,543 to the Hong Kong-based employment agency every month for six months for her training and recruitment.

When her employer's mother slapped her for the first time in mid-December, Rohyati says she spoke to the agency right away to ask for advice.

"I was told to be patient, to keep working and to wait for six months, until after I pay back all my fees before I could leave," she recalls.

Over the next two months, she says she continued to report the physical abuse to the agency, but to no avail.

Unlike Filipinos and some other nationalities, Indonesians are required to migrate only via recruitment agencies registered with the government.