Two Domestic Workers Report Alleged Confinement in Jakarta Employer’s Home, Ask to Be Sent Home

Two domestic workers reported that they had been confined inside their employer’s home in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, but police later said the incident was a misunderstanding.

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The complainants reported through the JAKI application that they had been confined in a house and subjected to improper treatment.

The women, identified by the initials SDA, 18, and N, 19, filed their report through the Jakarta Kini application on Sept. 3. Penjaringan police chief Agta Bhuwana Putra said the complaint was forwarded through the fire department and emergency police reporting system.

Officers visited the house and contacted the employer. Agta said the owner had left to receive medical therapy and had locked the home from outside. The two workers therefore could not get out, he said, but police concluded that no confinement had occurred.

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The incident did not actually happen. It was only a misunderstanding involving the complainants, who were domestic workers.

After the incident, the women no longer worked at the house. Following communication between the employer and the workers, police brought them to the Penjaringan station and arranged for them to be sent home.

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The owner had simply gone out for medical therapy because she was elderly, and the house was locked from outside, so the complainants, who were domestic workers, could not leave.