The police have arrested the boss of an Indonesian maid who knotted pieces of cloth together to flee the 15th-storey condominium where she worked.

The 35-year-old woman is being held while police investigate alleged wrongful confinement and the causing of hurt with a dangerous weapon, K Kumaran, a district police chief in Kuala Lumpur, was quoted as saying in the New Straits Times.

Ceriyati Dapin, 33, used the makeshift rope to climb down three floors on Saturday before fear stopped her from going further. The fire department rescued her from a ledge of the building, reports said.

The New Straits Times quoted Ceriyati as saying she had been locked in the apartment and decided to flee after being beaten and threatened with death.

Anis Hidayah, from the Jakarta-based advocacy group Migrant Care, called Ceriyati's case, "the tip of the iceberg."

Hidayah said that from January to June this year, 19 Indonesian migrant workers had died in Malaysia, 17 of them women.

Malaysia depends heavily on foreign maids but they enjoy little protection under labour laws. The maids often work long hours under tough conditions to earn about 100 dollars a month.