KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5 ― The website of robotic vacuum supplier RoboVac Malaysia was defaced today, believed to be the work of Indonesian hackers, after an advertisement telling buyers to “fire your Indonesian maid” drew outrage in the republic.
Just hours after Indonesian President Joko Widodo touched down for an official three-day visit here today, the website robovacmalaysia.com was replaced with a black site with white text urging for the company to “be nice” to Indonesian domestic workers.
“Please be nice to our sisters, they have family, they have kids. They are all need to eat, need to school, need to live, not like your rob-bot [sic],” said the text labelled as “Warning”.
“Don't forget we are Indonesian people will protect them. Your advertisement is not very funny at all. You drop our people dignity at your feet. Thank you. : )”
The title tag was also replaced by the text “Save KPK & save Polri”, most probably referring to the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission and its police.
Yesterday, the Indonesian government said it delivered a protest note to the Malaysian Foreign Ministry to demand a ban on the advertisement by RoboVac Malaysia in both its physical and online forms.
An Indonesian organisation called Migrant Care also urged Joko to protest against the advertisement, which the country’s media has labelled as “racist” and “hurtful”.
Corvan Technologies that distributes the robotic vacuum cleaner here yesterday denied that it was behind the advertisement, instead blaming an unauthorised dealer.
Indonesian maids had formed nearly 90 per cent of the Malaysia’s domestic helpers before the 2009 moratorium here, but remain the most popular supplier of such workers to Malaysia due to similar language and other cultural habits.
