(Photo: Andreas Praefcke)

Lourdes Mary relies on her live-in Indonesian maid, Tateka. Tateka helps care for Mary’s elderly mother and husband, who has a degenerative brain disease.

“I need the maid to help when I am not at home, to take care of my husband, because he needs to be fed and cleaned and given the right medication at the right time,” Mary said.

Mary pays her Indonesia maid $170, more than she could make in Indonesia. However, Tateka plans to return home in a few months, and Mary is scrambling to find a replacement.

Malaysians tend to hire workers from Indonesia because of language and cultural similarities. They are also cheap labor, but they have been in short supply of late. In July 2009, Indonesia banned its citizens from going to Malaysia for work, after Indonesian media ran stories about domestic workers being abused by their Malaysian employers.

Tateka arrived in Malaysia before the ban took effect. She said that before she left home, she saw images of maids badly mistreated by their employers – some of the women were branded with hot irons.

“I was afraid,” Tateka said. “But I prayed to God, and thankfully, you can see that I have a good employer.”

But not everyone is that lucky. A shelter for abused maids is housed inside the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur. The women cook and clean to earn their keep, while their cases are investigated by Indonesian officials. 45-year-old Sopieati arrived at the shelter with bruises underneath both her eyes and her chin.

She said that her employers punched her, and tried to strangle her. “I wanted to leave,” Sopieati said, but her employers insisted that she had to repay the $900 they spent to bring her over from Indonesia, money that she did not have.

Sopieati said her employers took away all of her belongings. She could not even find the number to call for help. “I have very bad luck,” she said.

Indonesian authorities have been negotiating with Malaysia to enact protections for Indonesian domestic workers. Talks have stalled over pay, but Malaysia has agreed to give Indonesian maids one day off a week and to allow them to keep their own passports.

Employers are not happy about that. According to Lourdes Mary, holding a maid’s passport is their only safeguard.

“The employers have paid so much to get the maids in,” Mary said. “But when they run away, we have to pay again to get another maid. This is a big burden. How are we to restrict them from running?”

Mary said most Malaysians do not abuse their maids, but the Indonesian media never reflect that.

At the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, officials said that the travel ban may expose domestic workers to more exploitation.

Labour Attaché Agus Triyanto said Indonesians filed 6,000 complaints of abuse last year. All of them entered the country on tourist visas to work illegally because of the ban, Agus said, making it harder for Indonesian officials to protect them. Agus said that Malaysians need to change their attitude toward Indonesian workers.

“It’s such a shame that domestic workers are still not seen as assets to the family. Instead they are treated as objects that they can mistreat,” Agus said.

Warning: This video contains profanity!

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LISA MULLINS: The Maldives have a lot of natural beauty to offer visitors. Just ask singer Katy Perry and her new husband. They went there for their honeymoon. In fact, tourism is the biggest industry on the islands just southwest of India. Not surprisingly, the government there likes to project an image of the Maldives as a welcoming and tolerant nation. Well, that image took a big hit, thanks to a video that was recently posted on YouTube. The video shows a Swiss couple taking part in a ceremony on the grounds of a Maldivian resort. But there’s a lot more to that video than meets the eye, as The BBC’s Jonny Hogg explains in this report.

JONNY HOGG:  It should have been a perfect moment. The couple had travelled to the Maldives to renew their wedding vows in a beach-side ceremony costing a thousand dollars. On the video, the couple look relaxed and happy, if a bit shy, as a hotel staff member explains the ceremony in English. Then the ceremony begins, and the staff member switches to the local Devehi language. Everything appears to be normal. A few minutes later, the couple receive what they’ve been told is a blessing. But these are no words of love. Instead the man launches into an abusive tirade, insulting the couple with sexual and religious slurs, and describing them as swine and infidels. Even as the ceremony culminates with the planting of a coconut tree, a member of staff is heard making lewd remarks. Because the Swiss couple did not speak the local language, they remained unaware of what had happened. It was only because the ceremony was filmed, then posted on the internet and picked up by local media that anyone knew anything was amiss. The incident has caused considerable embarrassment for the Maldives, a predominantly Muslim country that markets itself as a high end tourism destination. Dr. Farah Faizal is the country’s representative in Britain. She says the incident has shocked Maldivians.

FARAH FAIZAL:  The government has condemned what happened and the Prime Minister has offered sincere apologies to the couple. If you look at some of our local newspapers, people are horrified, absolutely horrified that they could treat visitors like this.

HOGG: The hotel has also apologized and Faizal says the staff members involved have been suspended as investigations are carried out. For The World, I’m Jonny Hogg.

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'Baptism of Saint Augustine' at Cathédrale Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Troyes

Last month, the Catholic Church in Belgium had to face revelations of widespread sexual abuse of children by priests. A report by an independent commission determined that the abuse was widespread, and took place over a number of decades. The Church vowed to help the victims, and hold those responsible to account. But for many Catholics in Belgium, the report was the last straw. More and more are even going so far as to formally leave the Church, in a process called “de-baptism.” From Brussels, the World’s Clark Boyd reports. Download MP3

• Pervasive abuse in Belgian Catholic Church
• Vatican reaction to Belgian scandal

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LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World. Last month, the Catholic Church in Belgium was rocked by a report on sexual abuse of children by priests. The report by an independent commission determined that the abuse was widespread, and that it took place over a number of decades. The Church vowed to help the victims, and hold those responsible to account. But for many Catholics in Belgium, such promises are too little, too late. For them, as for those disillusioned Catholics in other parts of the globe, there’s an option of getting “de-baptized.” The World’s Clark Boyd reports from Brussels.

CLARK BOYD:  Eric Lorio was born in a small town not far from Brussels. For Lorio, the Catholic Church was central to his community, and his life as a youngster. He attended Mass regularly, and served as an altar boy. But as he got older, he began to change his mind about his faith.

ERIC LORIO:  When I became to think, as an adult, I took distance from religion and God. And I found more and more that the Catholic Church more and more aggressive and more conservative, about abortion, about same-sex marriage, about modern life.

BOYD: Lorio says he became an atheist. And then last year, he decided to make his break with the Church more formal.

LORIO: I wanted to express, officially, to the church that I wanted to go away

BOYD: He did some research, and discovered a process for doing just that. It’s called, colloquially, “de-baptism.” The process is simple. You send a letter to the diocese where you were baptized formally stating your desire to leave the Church. Church authorities then put an X next to your name in the baptism register, and send you a letter confirming that it’s been done. Lorio’s not the only Belgian Catholic going through with de-baptism these days.

BJORN SIFFER: It’s a very popular act right now here in Belgium, and I don’t think the Catholic Church can do anything about that.

BOYD: Bjorn Siffer is the spokesman for the Antwerp-based Humanist Association of Belgium.

SIFFER: Since the continuing atmosphere of scandals about child abuse in the Catholic Church here in Belgium, we’ve received hundreds and hundreds of emails, questions by telephone, by people who were really angry at the church.

BOYD: Siffer says the Humanist Association is actively campaigning for de-baptism. They not only help people with their paperwork, but also take to the streets to ask Catholics if they might consider leaving the Church. For Catholics, baptism is the first sacrament, the initiation into the Church and the faith. Siffer says there are serious consequences should one choose to get de-baptized, so the process shouldn’t be done on a lark.

SIFFER:  One of the consequences is that you can’t have any more sacraments, from the moment you are de-baptized. So, when you want to marry it’s impossible, a funeral in the Catholic Church is impossible. So, it’s very important that people know that these are the consequences.

JURGEN METTEPENNINGEN: I want to emphasize that you cannot de-baptize yourself

BOYD: That’s Jurgen Mettepenningen, spokesman for the Catholic Church here in Belgium. Mettepenningen says he understands why people are upset with the Church these days. And, he says, he also understands why people want to formally leave the Church. But a mark in the baptism register, he says, doesn’t change the symbolism of the sacrament.

METTEPENNINGEN: A sacrament is given, once upon a time, you are baptized and you cannot say at a certain moment, I am not baptized. It’s not like your clothes. You put your clothes on, and then you take your clothes off. That’s not possible. A sacrament is on another level. So, you cannot ignore that you were once baptized.

BOYD: To some Catholics, though, the formal act doesn’t matter all that much.

DANIEL LECLERQ: I don’t care. They have no influence on me one way or another. They never have.

BOYD: That’s Daniel Leclerq. He heads a secularist group in Brussels that’s been helping people get de-baptized since 1986. He was baptized as a child, but says he feels no need to go through the formal process of leaving the Church. But for Eric Lorio, the process has helped him to be more comfortable with his own beliefs. And he’s set up a website to help others who wish to go through de-baptizing. He’s had 6,000 visitors to the site so far this year. He says the point is not just to give people practical information, but to explain to other Catholics his reasons for leaving the Church. For the World, this is Clark Boyd in Brussels.

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• BBC coverage
• Crisis for Pope Benedict

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LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World. An independent commission set up by the Belgian Catholic Church has issued a report and it’s not easy reading. It details widespread sexual abuse of children by Belgian priests. More than 500 men and women gave testimony about the abuse they suffered. Some were younger than seven years old at the time. More than a dozen victims are thought to have committed suicide because of what they went through. From Brussels, The World’s Clark Boyd reports that the head of the Belgian Catholic Church has responded to last week’s report.

CLARK BOYD:  Andre-Mutien Leonard told a news conference today that the Belgian Catholic Church wants to cooperate more closely with the police. That it does want the abusers to be punished. The Archbishop acknowledged of Friday’s report, that the record of sexual abuse stretches back decades, and that it happened in every diocese in Belgium. Archbishop Leonard said Church officials want to help the victims.

SPEAKING FRENCH

ANDRE-MUTIEN LEONARD: In the wake of this report, the first thing we will do is look at individual cases. We want to be as receptive as possible to the wishes of the victims. We must listen to their questions to restore their dignity and help heal the suffering they have endured.

BOYD: To do that, the Archbishop proposed the creation of a Center for Recognition, Reconciliation and Healing. But, he gave no details. San Duerinck was eleven when he says he was molested at a Catholic boarding school. That was more than 50 years ago, but he still remembers what happened when he went to people in authority with his story.

SAN DUERINCK: When I was at that boarding school, I told it to one priest in the confessional, and he didn’t react. He was like a block of stone. And then I told to the superior of the school, and he said oh, it’s the past now, you shouldn’t think about it any more. You should get over it and go on with your life.

BOYD: Duerinck now works with an organization that helps victims of abuse come forward. He says that a Chuch-run center of reconciliation isn’t enough.

DUERINCK: The Church is a private organization, and they should give all of what they have, the material, archive, documents, they should hand it over to the state authorities.

BOYD: At his news conference today, Archbishop Leonard did not spell out how the Church would work with police. He did warn, though, that those found responsible for abuse would face sanctions, including possible lifelong exclusion from the Church. In April, the Bishop of Bruges resigned after he admitting abusing his nephew years ago. The Church has yet to defrock or sanction him. But most of the people who stepped forward to testify for the report did so after the Bishop resigned. Austin Ivereigh of the British-based group Catholic voices says the Belgian church is now on the right track.

AUSTIN IVEREIGH: Clearly now the Church is saying we want to hear from victims more than we have.

BOYD:  That applies to victims not only of the Catholic Church, but of all institutions that care for children. Ellen Stassart is with Child Focus, a Belgian group that works with abuse victims.

ELLEN STASSART: I think what we have seen now is abuse and misuse of authority. I think this was misuse of authority of the church, and of priests and other Catholic persons. I think we can’t tolerate this kind of abuse from no institution whatsoever. Not an educational system, not another system and not in the church. I think really in general we cannot tolerate it.

BOYD: For its part, the Vatican has been silent on the abuse revelations in Belgium. For The world, this is Clark Boyd in Brussels.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Some great voices in this episode of the podcast.

Paul Pillar of Georgetown University was at the CIA for 28 years before retiring in 2005. He was an expert on South Asia and counter-terrorism at the agency. Pillar told me there’s good reason for frustration at the CIA over all this.

I also talked with former CIA officer Robert Baer. Much of his career was spent in the Middle East. Baer told me he could have tortured detainees a number of times over the years. But he never did. He said that’s not because he was categorically against it on moral grounds in all cases. But he said it’s simply because torture doesn’t work. It doesn’t produce solid intelligence. Baer wants President Obama to take the preliminary investigation into CIA abuse and kick it up a notch.

Mark Bowden has written fantastic stuff for The Atlantic on the issue of interrogations. He told me this would be a simple matter if it was always true that non-coercive methods of interrogations worked best in all cases. But it’s not that simple, Bowden said. However, he’s also very supportive of the way the Obama administration has broken with the past.

David Cole is the author of The Torture Memos. Cole said failing to hold those responsible for breaking laws on torture would allow future American presidents to repeat the mistakes of the Bush administration. But he added that this could be achieved without going down the road of full-blown criminal investigation.

There are, of course, differences of opinion on the question of how far up the chain of command the Obama administration should go with any investigation or inquiry. I talked about this with Stephen Walt of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Robert Jervis of Columbia, and David Kennedy at Stanford.

Read more about the Taliban insurgency