Importing maids, exporting talents

Opinion 2010-05-20 13:35

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed a memorandum of understanding Tuesday (18 May) on the new terms of the maids’ employment, including giving them a day off a week and allowing them to keep their passports.

It is understood that Indonesia has suggested a minimum wage of RM600 for maids but it requires further discussions.

Several high-profile abuse cases have created great discussions over the welfare of Indonesian maids. Also, the Indonesian government has earlier imposed a freeze on sending maids to Malaysia since they are not receiving fair treatment here. On the other hand, cases involving Indonesian maids, including runaways, stealth and abuse of children can also be heard from time to time.

Based on the information, we have some 300,000 legal and illegal Indonesian maids and most of them are responsible for housework and taking care of children, elders and patients. They are actually contributing a lot to our society. Unfortunately, some employers treat them as slaves and as a result, a lot of complaints are made.

It is a fact that Malaysia does not pay high for maids. To be fair, allowing maids, who belong to the vulnerable groups in the society, to enjoy a minimum wage, a day-off a week and a better working environment is just meeting the minimum international labour standards, there should be no controversy at all.

However, some employers are concerned that whether they have neglected the welfare of employers while making an agreement to protect the basic welfare of maids. For example, who should be responsible for the losses if the maid runs away?

Maids run away with various strange reasons, and it is not necessarily because they have been abused or treated unfairly. A friend of mine treated her maids like friends but the first two of her maids ran away with their boyfriends. She got the third maid but found that the maid was suffering from venereal disease and it caused endless worries to her family.

Every time when she applied for a maid, my friend paid the maid advanced salary. Together with agency and visa fees, she had to spend about RM7000 for a maid. She really suffered a great loss as three of the maids were not satisfactory.

In the long run, the memorandum of understanding signed by Malaysian and Indonesia can help us solve the maid dispute. It is a good thing. But the market is realistic. When the welfare and treatment for maids have been improved, their quality must be improved, too. The market may also shift to other countries for cheaper maids.

Another problem that we should think about is, why are we losing millions of talents at the same time when we are importing up to 2 millions of Indonesian labours and maids?

(By LIM MUN FAH/ Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/ Sin Chew Daily