Chained and Forced to Eat Dog Faeces: Horrific Mistreatment of Indonesian Maid

Chained and Forced to Eat Dog Faeces: Horrific Mistreatment of Indonesian Maid

In order to assist her parents pay off their debt, Siti Khotimah relocated from her birthplace in Central Java to Jakarta last year after finding a maid job there.

Indonesia: The mistreatment of an Indonesian maid, who was beaten, made to eat animal excrement, and confined to a dog cage, demonstrates the government's inability to safeguard domestic workers domestically while making efforts to assist those overseas, critics claim.

In order to assist her parents pay off their debt, Siti Khotimah relocated from her birthplace in Central Java to Jakarta last year after finding a maid job there.

The 24-year-old now walks with a limp and has obvious burn scars throughout her legs as a result of months of torment by her employer.

Every time I think about what happened to me, my brain hurts," she screamed.

Khotimah's situation is not unusual in Indonesia, the largest democracy without domestic worker protection legislation, leaving more than four million people—mostly women—vulnerable to assault.

Last month, her well-to-do 70-year-old employer in south Jakarta was sentenced to four years in prison for assault, while the woman's husband, daughter, and six other maids were each given three and a half years.

Khotimah revealed to AFP that she was originally unable to talk about being raped while working. She then told the police, who counselled her to bring a separate claim for assault. They ought to have experienced what I do, she remarked.

'Discriminatory' legislation

Inaction on a domestic worker bill has lasted for almost 20 years, and campaigners accuse the government of being slow to move. Since maids are not considered employees under the law as it is, they are compelled to labour in an unorganised, uncontrolled sector of the economy. Advocates claim that even if the bill is passed, it would mostly benefit individuals who are hired by agents to work abroad.

The working committee's chairman, legislator Willy Aditya, told AFP that the measure "is very discriminatory." Activists for women's rights argue that the government should do more to assist domestic servants in Indonesia.

"Khotimah's situation is hardly unique. According to Tiasri Wiandani member of the National Commission for the Eradication of Aggression Against Women, the government's response has always been tardy.

Women from rural regions, like Khotimah, feel pushed by poverty to keep relocating to major cities in search of jobs, despite the dangers and horrible accounts of abuse. In our town, we owed money. 

When a coworker accused her of small-time stealing a few weeks after her arrival in April 2022, she told AFP that this was when the harassment started.

In spite of Khotimah's denials, she was accused of additional theft, and the torture persisted into December.

She remembered how her former bosses had her drink and consume their dog's faeces. Later, they shackled me," she claimed.

Khotimah said that during her eight months of employment, she received no money other than a 1.5 million rupiah ($99) payment made before she was sent to her home in Central Java.

Because I no longer appeared to be a person, she added, she was concerned the driver would leave her by the side of the road.

'Last to suffer' - Khotimah's mother discovered her at 3 am, sobbing on the floor with her hair short. Her legs were bleeding profusely, both blood and pus. She had burns from cigarettes all over both of her arms.

She was sobbing quietly. Khotimah's mother, Eni Sopiyah, told AFP that she woke up her lover and told him, "Our child is home, although she is dying."

The family made a police call.

While Khotimah was being transported to a hospital in Jakarta, where she spent four months recovering, the suspects were detained.

She promises to continue advocating for justice for herself and other maids while her body is still healing.