Siti Hajar: I want to forget the hell

Siti Hajar, the Indonesian maid who was badly scarred after allegedly being repeatedly tortured by her employer in Malaysia, wants only to forget her three years of torture and return home to her family in West Java, thestar.com.my reports.

The 33-year-old from Garut said she longed to be with her family so she could forget the torture she suffered at the hands of her employer.

“I want to put all the misery I went through behind me. I just want to be with my family,” said Siti when met at the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) where she was being treated Tuesday.

Siti had travelled to work in Malaysia in July 2006 after her separating from her husband, an ice-cream vendor.

Asked if she would return to Malaysia to work, Siti was not sure, but said "I don't think all Malaysian employers are bad.”

It was being investigated whether the maid had also been sexually abused.

Relating her ordeal, Siti said she had tried to escape on a few occasions when she could no longer stand the physical abuse but was always caught by her employer.

She claimed that her employer had even hit her in front of her (the employer’s) 13-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son.

Her 43-year-old employer, a single mother of two, had also allegedly poured boiling water over her and had repeatedly beaten her with a cane since 34 months ago.

The maid had also claimed that she was only fed plain rice twice a day and forced to eat pork at times.

An Indonesian Embassy official who declined to be named said Siti had spoken to her family on the phone.

“Her family is anxious for the case to be resolved as quickly as possible because they want her to return to Indonesia,” he said.

Siti escaped from the employer’s residence in Lanai Kiara Condominium in Mont Kiara with help from a neighbour at 7.30am on Monday.

“I used a steel rod to prise open the front grille and with the help of a neighbour, I took a taxi to the Indonesian Embassy.

“I reached there at 8.30am and the taxi driver gave me RM10 after he heard what had happened to me,” Siti said.

Brickfields police chief Asst Comm Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid said the employer had been remanded for five days beginning yesterday.

Police will also record statements from the taxi driver who took Siti to the embassy.

On Monday, Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Tan Sri Da’i Bactiar said the employer had willingly admitted to abusing Siti.

“She cried and apologised for abusing Siti,” he said.