An Indonesian non-government organisation has called for an immediate moratorium on the sending of Indonesians to work in Malaysia following cases of abuse and mistreatment of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia.       

Migrant Care said the freeze should cover both the formal and informal sectors.      

Its director, Anis Hidayah, spoke to reporters in front of the Malaysian embassy during a protest gathering there over the rape of an Indonesian worker in Penang on Nov 9 by three Malaysian policemen.      

Indonesia had imposed a moratorium in 2009 on the sending of workers in the informal sector to Malaysia following several cases of abuse of domestic maids by their employers in Malaysia.      

The moratorium was withdrawn on Dec 1 last year after the Malaysian and Indonesian authorities agreed to implement a memorandum of understanding on the recruitment and emplacement of Indonesian maids signed on May 31 last year in Bandung, western Java.      

Today's demonstration involved about 60 people, 40 of them from Migrant Care and several Indonesian women's organisations and the rest from the Indonesian National Undergraduates Movement.      

In Butterworth, Malaysia, three policemen were charged in the Sessions Court today with raping an Indonesian worker and committing carnal intercourse against the order of nature on her at the Perai Police Barracks last Friday.     

The trio pleaded not guilty to the charges.     

- Bernama