So what — I want to know, I really want to know — is being done to stop people from abusing domestic staff? The reports of abuse, murder and harassment seem never to stop and very little, if anything, is being done to stop them. Our officials, despite numerous public statements that they are dealing with the situation, clearly are not. The recent case of the two Indonesian maids who were beaten to death by their employers for whatever reason they choose to provide is simply incredible. It is not enough to hold the women’s employers and question them; we need to see some action taken against them and to see them publicly shamed for what they did.

People have not forgotten the Noor Miyati case, and the fact that this poor woman lost her fingers and suffered without seeing justice done is again unbelievable. So what are we waiting for? Up to now, no matter what the Human Rights society or any official body says, words mean nothing. It is no longer about individual cases and it reflects badly on every one of us. These horrible stories are reported around the world and as far as tarnishing our reputation, nothing could tarnish it more. The official reaction so far has been to try to calm things down and then to do nothing.

In the case of an Indonesian maid who accused her employer’s son of raping her (Arab News Aug.1), the case was officially closed for “lack of evidence.” Now the maid’s lawyer is trying to reopen it and convince the authorities that a DNA test should be used in the search for justice. To say the least, that is reasonable - especially since the accused’s denial was initially taken as proof that the maid was lying! And now to the recent case of the shepherdess who has been working here for decades without a salary. Had it not been for her goats, she would not have survived. Her employer owes her some SR63,000 in unpaid salary. What was done? Nothing. Nothing at all. He appeared once, stated that he was bankrupt, gave her SR7,000 and disappeared. Did the police do anything about finding him? Do our imams take these matters as subjects for their Friday sermons? If we look into these matter closely, there are two elements to consider. The first is the offender and the second the problem of law enforcement. Pertaining to the offenders, there seems to be a wider problem that has deep roots in our society and customs. Some people get away with mistreating those who are dependent on them — whether the dependents are the women and children of their family or their employees. To hold such unchallenged and unquestioned power is all too often to abuse it to the maximum extent. We have only to look at the records of abuse to see the truth of that statement.

We keep telling the world that we hold Islamic values dear to our hearts and that whatever we do is done according to religious teachings. If we stop, however, and ask ourselves “How many of us actually follow those teachings when one side is weaker than the other?” I am afraid we would find inhumane behavior all too common.

The time has come when we need to talk about our social conscience. For those who follow Islam, they know that the one of its most important teachings is to be kind to others and treat them with mercy and compassion. Of course we are not an ideal society nor is one anywhere. There are those who break the law everywhere and there are laws to restrain and punish the lawbreakers. We have the laws but we seem unable or unwilling to enforce them and so we have a persistent problem. If the offender in the Miyati case — or in any of the others — were justly punished and that punishment were made public, maybe it would act as a deterrent to other potential offenders. But as things happen, we begin in anger, assure people that things are being dealt with and eventually, the anger dies down, the case is closed and everything goes back to square one. When human rights organizations criticize us, we get offended and immediately go on the defensive. What we should do is listen to what they are saying and accept that something may be wrong and that we need to solve the problem instead of denying its existence. We also need to be aware of an old saying — justice delayed is justice denied.