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'M'sia treats maids worst'
June 16, 2009
WHEN it comes to treatment of Indonesian maids, Malaysia is the worst country in Asia, said an Indonesian embassy official.
The Malay Mail reported on Friday that every year, more than 1,000 maids, mainly Indonesians, escape from their cruel employers.
The paper spoke to migrant worker advocates who revealed more horror stories of 'slave maids' last week.
Some, including illegal domestic helpers and victims of human trafficking, remain runaways for fear of deportation.
Others seek protection from their respective embassies, in some cases, along with newborn babies - often the result of sexual assault.
There were no children or babies when the Malay Mail visited the shelter last week.
These stories came from women at the shelter in the Indonesian embassy.
As of last week, 162 women were at the shelter, which can hold 75 people. They can stay up to months.
Some had been beaten, raped or tortured with scalding water and nearly all had been treated like slaves and not paid for months or years. Many still bear the scars, scalds and wounds.
Now they wait for their cases to be resolved via mediation with resentful former employers or make their way painfully slowly through Malaysia's court system before they can return to their villages and towns.
Most problematic
Of the estimated 300,000 maids in Malaysia, Indonesians make up 90 per cent while Filipinas constitute 8 per cent.
In 1991, there were only 585 registered Indonesian maids.
Indonesian Embassy second secretary (consular affairs), Susapto Anggoro Broto, said Malaysia was the most problematic of all the Asian countries that take in Indonesian maids.
Foreign domestic workers there are highly vulnerable, reported the paper. They lack legal protection, which subjects them to any kind of working condition an employer sees fit.
Migrant worker advocate Sandra Rajendra said: 'We can say Malaysia is one of the worst states, the country that least protects foreign workers, including domestic workers.'
Some were found to have been kept in bondage in the homes where they worked, a report on migrant workers says, and were forced to keep work routines tantamount to slavery.
In contrast, women from the Philippines, whose government insists on contracts guaranteeing regular days off and payment, are rarely victims of abuse and earn up to four times the RM500 to RM600 monthly wage of many Indonesians.
Ms Rajendra said the protracted legal process is extremely damaging for abused women, who inevitably sink into depression as they are forced to put their lives on hold and relive the trauma.
'M'sia treats maids worst'
June 16, 2009
WHEN it comes to treatment of Indonesian maids, Malaysia is the worst country in Asia, said an Indonesian embassy official.
The Malay Mail reported on Friday that every year, more than 1,000 maids, mainly Indonesians, escape from their cruel employers.
The paper spoke to migrant worker advocates who revealed more horror stories of 'slave maids' last week.
Some, including illegal domestic helpers and victims of human trafficking, remain runaways for fear of deportation.
Others seek protection from their respective embassies, in some cases, along with newborn babies - often the result of sexual assault.
There were no children or babies when the Malay Mail visited the shelter last week.
These stories came from women at the shelter in the Indonesian embassy.
As of last week, 162 women were at the shelter, which can hold 75 people. They can stay up to months.
Some had been beaten, raped or tortured with scalding water and nearly all had been treated like slaves and not paid for months or years. Many still bear the scars, scalds and wounds.
Now they wait for their cases to be resolved via mediation with resentful former employers or make their way painfully slowly through Malaysia's court system before they can return to their villages and towns.
Most problematic
Of the estimated 300,000 maids in Malaysia, Indonesians make up 90 per cent while Filipinas constitute 8 per cent.
In 1991, there were only 585 registered Indonesian maids.
Indonesian Embassy second secretary (consular affairs), Susapto Anggoro Broto, said Malaysia was the most problematic of all the Asian countries that take in Indonesian maids.
Foreign domestic workers there are highly vulnerable, reported the paper. They lack legal protection, which subjects them to any kind of working condition an employer sees fit.
Migrant worker advocate Sandra Rajendra said: 'We can say Malaysia is one of the worst states, the country that least protects foreign workers, including domestic workers.'
Some were found to have been kept in bondage in the homes where they worked, a report on migrant workers says, and were forced to keep work routines tantamount to slavery.
In contrast, women from the Philippines, whose government insists on contracts guaranteeing regular days off and payment, are rarely victims of abuse and earn up to four times the RM500 to RM600 monthly wage of many Indonesians.
Ms Rajendra said the protracted legal process is extremely damaging for abused women, who inevitably sink into depression as they are forced to put their lives on hold and relive the trauma.
