Hong Kong Says Third Domestic Helper Complains of Abuse

Jakarta Globe – Bloomberg, Jasmine Wang, January 22, 2014

Police escort Lo Wan-Tung to her home for further investigation in Hong Kong,
China, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014. (Bloomberg Photo)

Hong Kong police said an investigation into the abuse of Indonesian domestic helpers by an employer had widened to include a third worker.

The worker, who wasn’t identified, said she was attacked in the household of her employer in December 2011, the police said in a statement. The latest case is related to the investigation of Lo Wan-tung, who was detained for questioning on Jan. 20.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said yesterday the former British colony won’t tolerate the mistreatment of foreign domestic helpers. More than 300,000 foreign maids, with the majority coming from Indonesia and the Philippines, work in the Chinese city with thousands incurring debts to get job placements.

“Foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong are afforded the full protection of the law,” Leung said yesterday. “We take all reports of foreign domestic helpers being mistreated in Hong Kong very, very seriously.”

A Hong Kong investigation team left for Indonesia with two labor officers and three consulate staff on Jan. 20, the police said. Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, 22, said she was physically abused by her employer Lo over eight months and is recovering in a hospital in Java, according to reports by the South China Morning Post. Lo was held after another Indonesian maid identified only as Susi, 31, said she was abused between April 2010 and March 2011, the newspaper reported yesterday, citing Senior Inspector Chan Wai-man.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters in Jakarta yesterday that he called Erwiana and her father and offered funds to help.

“The Hong Kong police has arrested the suspect, the law and justice will be upheld,” Yudhoyono said. He added that the Indonesian workers in Hong Kong are generally managed well.

Lo hasn’t been charged and was released by the police, the South China Morning Post said today.

Changes are being considered to the licenses of maid agencies to enhance the protection for foreign domestic helpers, said Commissioner for Labour Cheuk Wing-hing in an interview with Commercial Radio Hong Kong on Jan. 20.

Bloomberg

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Indonesian maid Erwiana Sulistyaningsih gets medical treatment

 at a hospital in Sragen, Central Java, on Jan. 15, 2013. Erwiana was

 allegedly tortured in Hong Kong by her employers. (AFP Photo/

Anwar Mustafa)