by Ann Tan

GEORGE TOWN: A 105-year-old bedridden woman, believed to be one of the oldest persons in Malaysia, and her 86-year-old sister were left to fend for themselves when their two maids ran away yesterday.

On top of that, the maids - Wati and Halimah - stole RM350 (S$144) from one of them.

Kalivanti Devi, 105, and Shanti Devi, 86, were left hungry and thirsty when they realised that their maids had disappeared from their house at Kim Bian Aik Road.

Shanti's daughter Geeta Devi, 53, had gone to work while grandson Hemaath Kumar, 21, was out for a job interview and granddaughter Ravitari, 19, was asleep.

Shanti said: "It was well planned. I paid for the petrol yesterday and they noticed where I kept my money.

"While one of the maids was giving me a bath, the other one must have taken my money, packed their belongings and placed them at the back door.

"They then left me and my sister in the living room and left the house when we were not aware."

Shanti, who is diabetic, said she trusted the maids so much that she even allowed one of them to do the shopping and mix with their neighbour's maid.

Geeta said her mother and stepmother (the sisters married the same man) were very dependent on the maids.

"My stepmother cries when no one answers. She is very afraid of being left alone.

"The reason we have two maids is that we want them to take turns taking care of the two elderly women at night so that they don't get tired.

"We let them rest when they are sick. They retire to bed at 8pm and only wake up at 7am," said the 53-year-old lawyer, who claimed that a previous maid had also run away.

"Of course it's not right to abuse anybody but look at what we get in return when we treated them so well?

"They were given freedom and full access to anything they needed, including telephone cards," she said.

Geeta said she is now in a dilemma since Indonesia has banned its citizens from coming to Malaysia to work as maids.

Hemaath Kumar claimed that he was told by the neighbour's maid that one of the runaway maids has been going out with a boy named Ben who is staying in Tanjung Bungah.

"We have informed the maid agency and will be lodging a police report over the matter," he said.