Indonesian Domestic Worker Seeks Unpaid Wages Totalling RM106,000 From ‘Tan Sri’ Employer

By Jasmine Qistina  •  22 Dec 2021 in News

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An Indonesian domestic worker fled her employer’s home in Kota Damansara after enduring twelve years of unpaid work. The lady who is 43 years old, would like to remain unnamed and said that her employer is a Tan Sri in his 70s.

She went straight to the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur the same day she ran away from her work place. A spokesperson from the embassy said they contacted a lawyer to issue a letter of demand to the Tan Sri, claiming the domestic worker’s unpaid wages totalled RM106,000.

For legal reasons, the embassy and domestic worker are withholding the name of the alleged Tan Sri.

The lady who was from Malang in East Java would start work at 5AM and slept only when her employer went to bed, around midnight. During the twelve years of work, she endured rough criticism, being overworked and was even slapped by her boss.

For the first seven years of her employment, she singlehandedly managed the chores of her employers who were a family of six adults and two infants. The domestic worker said that she rarely had any personal time to herself or time to rest.

When she asked for her wages and to be allowed to return home, they told her to wait for a replacement worker first. Unfortunately her employers kept ignoring her requests even after another domestic worker was employed in 2016.

“By 2019, my replacement had fled the household and another replacement was employed the same year,” she told Malaysiakini.

“I never dared run away because I was afraid of being caught by the authorities or falling prey to unsavoury characters but, when my second replacement suggested we leave, I didn’t hesitate because she had a plan,” she said.

She was not allowed to have a phone during her employability so contacting her family back in Java was rare. However since she ran away and sought refuge at the Indonesian embassy, she was finally able to communicate with her parents again.

Her family asked her to return home immediately but she did not want to return without her income.