Kuala Lumpur – Some 120 Indonesian maids fleeing physical abuse or attempted rape by employers or agents have taken refuge at their country's consulate in an east Malaysian state, a report said Thursday.

Nugraha, consul general in Sarawak, was quoted by the Sun newspaper as saying the maids had taken refuge over the past seven months. "We provide food and accommodation but they have to sleep on the floor," he was quoted as saying. "They are crowded into two rooms and there are no blankets."

Nugraha said the maids aged 15 to 25 would eventually be sent back to their homes in Indonesia's neighbouring West Kalimantan province.

There is an urgent need for formal agreements between maids, agents and employers to ensure fairness and avoid abuse, he was quoted as saying. One maid aged 22 was quoted as saying she was raped three times by her local recruiting agent before she fled.

Nugraha said some maids from mainly Muslim Indonesia ran away from employers because they were forced to eat pork, were physically abused or were not paid wages. Last week police in Sarawak arrested one employer who allegedly made her Indonesian maid drink bleach as well as beating and scalding her.

Reports of a series of attacks on Indonesian maids throughout the country this year have shocked many Malaysians. Some employers have been charged and the cabinet ordered a study into ways of protecting foreign domestic helpers.

Some 150,000 foreign maids, mainly Indonesians, work in Malaysia to escape poverty back home.