A girl domestic worker who worked in Malaysia was severely beaten before she was saved and sent back in 2006.
Ms. T.S, aged 15, migrated for work in 2005 through a Khmer labor company on a two-year contract. With three months’ training in Malay language and housework, she was sent to Malaysia where, after working for only a week, she was told by her boss that she had insufficient skills. The company that singed the contract with her boss punished her by keeping her in a room with low temperature from 9 am till 12 pm for four days. Afterwards, Ms. T.S was sent back to the house where she had worked for only a week.
She worked from 5 am till 12 pm, not only in the house, but also in her boss’s shop. During that time, she was often hit by the female boss and the boss’s mother on her head, hands, stomach, back, legs, buttocks, and breasts until bloody. Sometimes they hit her in the face and also kicked and stepped on her neck. Sometimes the beatings made her lose consciousness.
The Cambodian embassy and the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center in Malaysia cooperated with police to rescue her and took her to hospital. Ms. T.S has filed a complaint against the boss’s family for compensation of USD 2000 and her 8 months’ salary that they haven’t paid her yet.
Source: Gender and Development for Cambodia’s Gender View
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I didn’t know it was legal for Malaysia to hire “underage” workers. I guess nothing surprises me anymore.