Few women in Asia physically torture their maids, as a wealthy Malaysian housewife is alleged to have done recently, but many are accused of treating them like slaves.

Ethnic and class prejudices are responsible for the way employers subject maids to excessively long hours with little or no time off and pitiful pay, says Ivy Josiah, executive director of Malaysia's Women's Aid Organisation.

"It's about power. Some of the time it's because of their own insecurities and their need to retain some form of power," she told AFP .

"It's an almost perfect environment for abuse. It creates opportunities for that kind of cruelty, the perversion, degradation and mental torture."

Josiah was reacting to the outcry in Malaysia and other countries in the region over the horrific case of Nirmala Bonet, an Indonesian maid who was burnt so badly with a hot iron on her breasts that her nipples fell off.