TENAGANITA expresses profound alarm at news of a woman who was allegedly trafficked and confined as a domestic worker for 16 years in Batu Caves, Selangor (“Indonesian domestic worker rescued after alleged forced labour in Batu Caves”, The Star, Nov 26; online at tinyurl.com/393xe7me). While this news has shocked many, for us at Tenaganita it is a painful reminder of a reality we have witnessed for decades: Domestic workers remain among the most invisible and unprotected people in Malaysia.
We have handled cases where women were trapped for eight, 10, even 20 years, isolated, unpaid, abused, and completely cut off from any path to safety. These are not particularly exceptional situations. They expose systemic weaknesses that allow exploitation to persist inside private homes.
