An Indonesian maid working in Seremban has claimed she was forced to eat pork and prevented from praying, reports said today.

Munifah, in her 30s, was rescued by police from a shop where she was working after passing a note to a customer on Monday pleading for help.

"I am Munifah. I want to ask for help because I have been asked to eat pork by my employer and not allowed to pray. I am also beaten," said the note, which was published by the New Straits Times .

The customer passed the note to the newspaper's company, which alerted Seremban police.

The Malay Mail tabloid said Munifah was either forced to eat pork or go hungry and had previously tried to seek help. She later lodged a police complaint after being taken from the shop.

However, Seremban police chief Hasanuddin Hassan said Munifah's report did not contain a complaint about being forced to eat food contrary to Islam.

"According to my officers, she said she wanted to go back to Indonesia," he told AFP .

Cruel bosses banned

Hasanuddin said Munifah, who told police she was a Muslim, had been sent back to her employment agency to be taken care of.

"We saved her and so we referred her back to the agency," said Hasanuddin.

The government announced earlier this year that employers who were found to be cruel would be banned from hiring new foreign workers, in a bid to curb abuses and even deaths among foreign workers.

Last year 23 cases of mistreatment of foreign workers were recorded by the immigration department while another 14 cases had been reported by June this year.