Labour Department chiefs are poised to launch an investigation into the treatment of a maid beaten by the wife of a senior civil servant.
Officials yesterday appealed to Rukiyah, 30, from Java, Indonesia, to come forward so they could look into her case.
The move comes after she told the South China Morning Post that she was underfed, forced to live in a room without light, beaten and got just $260 of her $3,860 monthly salary.
On Wednesday, Maria Mui Yuk-ming, 50, the wife of Ms Rukiyah's employer, senior government chemist Dr Ting Tai-lun, was fined $500 and ordered to pay the maid $3,000 compensation for assault after being convicted of beating her with a broomstick.
Migrant workers' rights groups have described the punishment as 'a joke'.
Connie Bragas-Regalado of United Filipinos said: 'The courts say $500 is all she's worth after being treated like a slave, it does not measure up to the lifetime scars.' Labour officials want to find out if any labour laws were broken either by Ms Rukiyah's employer or the agency who secured her the job.
'We would urge her to contact us so we can look into her case,' a Labour Department spokesman said yesterday.
