Malaysian gets 8 years for abusing Indonesian maid

A Malaysian has been sentenced to eight years in prison for abusing his maid, three months after his wife was jailed for scalding the woman with a hot iron, according to a report. A. Vealu, a grass-cutting contractor, was convicted of exploiting a 26-year-old maid from East Java, who was found with burn injuries after being abandoned by Vealu and his wife last year. A district court in northern Penang state passed the verdict Friday but Vealu, 42, was not jailed immediately and is pending appeal, the New Straits Times reported. His wife, S.M. Poongavanam, was sentenced in May to eight years in jail after she was found guilty of grievously injuring the maid with an iron in September last year. The maid, who was discovered by a roadside, had also accused Vealu of repeatedly raping her. Lawyers could not immediately be reached Saturday. Abuse cases, especially of Indonesian maids who make up the brunt of domestic helpers in Malaysia, have frequently surfaced in recent years, and led Indonesia to stop sending maids to Malaysia for two years. An agreement to take better care of their welfare was signed between the two countries in May, ending the ban. About 170,000 women work as maids in Malaysia, according to the Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies. Earlier this week, Tenaganita, a migrant labour activist group, called on Cambodia to stop sending maids, who have filled the void during the Indonesia ban, until Malaysian laws are changed to better protect them. The call follows news reports on the recent death of one maid -- though police say she was not abused and died of pneumonitis -- and the alleged abuse of another, including having her head shaved bald. Tenaganita said in a statement that many of the Cambodian maids, who have complained to the group of overwork and abuse, are below 21 years old -- the legal age of work -- and remain "in a condition of forced labour with practices of modern day slavery."