JAKARTA: According to a new report that looks at the treatment of Indonesian domestic workers in the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan made Indonesia women suffer the most, the Indonesian National Manpower Placement and Protection Agency reported. A report published on the agency's website showed that 2,652, or 41 percent, of the 6,364 problems recorded occurred in Taiwan. The data, which was gathered by the agency's Information and Research Development Centre, said this figure was followed by 1,959 in Singapore, 995 in Hong Kong, 570 in Malaysia, 165 in Brunei Darussalam, 18 in Macao, four in South Korea and one in Japan. And here in Jakarta, domestic workers agree. One woman told Bikyamasr.com as she was applying for a position in Malaysia that would become available in the new year, that “Taiwan might not have the reputation other places do, but it is hard. We are often beaten for making a mistake, even if we didn't know we made it.” Other women simply nodded in a agreement at the recruitment office for potential maids to head abroad. The report added that the center recorded 15 cases each day from arrivals at the Workforce Arrival Service counter at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten. The bulk of the cases, 2,295, or 36 percent, of the 6,364 cases, involved dismissal, followed by 1,236 problems with employers and 817 cases of workers falling ill, it said.
