JAKARTA (THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The Indonesian government has demanded that justice be upheld for Adelina Lisao, an Indonesian domestic worker who died after allegedly suffering abuse from her employers in Penang.

The 21-year-old died in Bukit Mertajam Hospital, Penang, on Sunday after reportedly being tortured for more than a month.

She was reportedly forced to sleep outside the semi-detached house with a Rottweiler owned by the family.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said she has coordinated with the Indonesian Embassy in Malaysia and the Indonesian Consulate General in Penang to demand justice for the deceased Adelina.

"The Indonesian Consulate General will provide legal assistance to ensure that the victim's rights are fulfilled, particularly the rights to obtain compensation or remedial justice," Ms Retno said on Tuesday (Feb 13), in the first comments about the issue by a top Indonesian official.

Ms Retno also clarified that Adelina was not from Medan as reported by some news outlets and that she was in fact from East Nusa Tenggara, a province closer to Bali island.

The minister said Malaysian authorities were investigating the case and that the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had also sent a letter of condolences to Indonesia on Monday.

Malaysian police are holding two siblings and their 60-year-old mother to help in investigations into the case that has drawn widespread attention in Malaysia.

A report last year said there were more than 250,000 registered domestic workers in Malaysia, most of them from Indonesia.