SRAGEN: An Indonesian maid allegedly tortured by her Hong Kong employer left hospital yesterday after a month, tearfully expressing the hope that her case would prevent future abuse of “small people like us.”
Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, 23, was admitted to hospital in Sragen, on Indonesia’s main island of Java, in critical condition after returning from Hong Kong where she allegedly suffered months of abuse.
As she left hospital, the maid said was feeling much better and wanted to get her “old life back.” But shortly afterwards she broke down in tears at a press conference.
“I hope my case will be the last,” she told reporters. “I don’t want any more people to end up like me. So pitiful, the fate of small people like us.”
Her alleged torture sparked protests by domestic workers in Hong Kong and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called the maid to express sorrow over the “tragedy.”
It also renewed concern about treatment of maids in the Asian financial hub. AFP
