The Bar Council today cautioned the public and ministers not to be prejudgemental in the case of abused Indonesian maid Nirmala Bonet.

The council specifically named Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Dr Rais Yatim, who was previously also de facto law minister, and criticised him for his remarks pertaining to the case.

After the grisly photographs depicting Nirmala's scars and bruises appeared in the newspapers, Rais reportedly said the perpetrator deserved to be judged prematurely because of the savage nature of the abuse.

"This is one case, I believe, where the adage of law 'one is not guilty until found so by the court of law' is not suitable for this category (of crime)," he had said.

However, the council termed the minister's comments as 'wholly misguided'.

"It is inappropriate to demand punishment without or before due process. Suggestions of this nature will demote, rather than promote, the course of justice," said its vice president Yeo Yang Poh in a statement.

"In the consuming heat of well-meaning public displays of revulsion, we must not forget that it is justice that our society demands and requires.

"No matter how despicable a crime appears to be, or how much one believes that the available evidence can only point to one person or one conclusion, due process must be given. Conviction cannot be achieved or assumed by way of popular belief," he added.

Nirmala, 19, claims to have been assaulted by the wife of her employer in their upscale condominium in Kuala Lumpur.

Apart from repeated beatings, she alleged that Yim Peck Ha had also scalded her with boiling water and burnt her breasts with an iron.

Yim, a home-maker, was charged in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court last Saturday under sections 325 (causing grievous hurt) and 326 (causing grievous hurt using weapons or means) of the Penal Code. She has been denied bail and the trial dates have been fixed for July 26-28.

Proper protection

In another development, an Indonesian workers lobby group Solidaritas Perempuan said as long as there is no legal protection, foreign workers will continue to fall victim to abuse.

It said the Malaysian and Indonesian governments can no longer shy away from the responsibility of upholding basic protection standards for foreign domestic workers.

At present, the safety of foreign domestic workers depend solely on the goodwill of their employers, as neither governments have shown any interest to implement proper laws to protect them.

"The Malaysian government have said a specific MOU is needed to cover foreign domestic workers, but there is no news when that will be formulated.

"The sad thing is, the Indonesian government clearly has a strong bargaining position to push such a policy, but it has not shown any keenness to defend the proposal to include foreign domestic workers in the previous MOU," said the group in a statement.

Interest groups have in the past warned that the MOU will remain insufficient if Malaysia does not to ensure that the law also spells out punishment for employers or agents who break contractual obligations.

Solidaritas said both governments should learn from Nirmala's case and view it as an entry point to formulate proper protection.