KUALA TERENGGANU – An Indonesian maid fled to the Immigration Department here Wednesday from her employer’s house in Kampung Pasir Panjang, claiming abuse by her employer since one year ago as the reason.
Nur Hasanah Mohd Mahyuddin, 25, surrendered herself to the department at about 11am, saying she could no longer withstand the physical abuse by her employer, in her 50s.
The maid, a divorcee with a child, claimed that she escaped from her employer’s house at about 12.30am on Monday after her employer slapped and hit her for having a mobile phone.
Nur Hasanah claimed that she was also physically abused by her employer’s sister, besides not being paid her salary by her employer for about two years.
“Initially, everything was alright and for two months I was paid my salary. Eventually, however, my employer always scolded me and hit me with her hand.
“Sometimes, she grabbed me at the neck until there were bruises if I made mistakes when preparing drinks or washing the clothes. My salary was also not paid for me to send money to my parents,” she told reporters when met at the Immigration quarters, here.
“As a result, I was determined to run away when they were asleep. When I escaped, I met a women and I hid at her house for a while before she showed me where the Immigration Department is,” she added.
Nur Hasanah said she had wanted to run away from her employer a few times before but could not do so as she had no money and her travel documents were with the employer’s husband in Johor.
“I came here to earn an honest living to help my family and fend for my child in our village. I did not expect my fate to be like this,” said Nur Hasanah who hoped to return to Indonesia.
Meanwhile, state Immigration assistant director, Mohd Shahrir Khalil when contacted by Bernama, confirmed that the maid had come to the department and it had tried to contact her employer through the phone number given, but to no avail.
“We have to detain the maid for investigation with regard to her not having any documents with her and so on,” he said.
— BERNAMA
