Maid’s salary set by gov’t

Ryan Davidson | Sep 13, 04 3:14pm

I am totally in awe of the repetitive comments by Dr G Walter, Phd on the case of me paying my maid a salary of RM400 a month besides all his other comments on emigrating. For your information Walter, my Indonesian Muslim maid here is getting paid almost three times more (based on today’s currency exchange) then the average live-in maid in Indonesia. She decided to come and work in Malaysia for economic gain for her family by sacrificing the years away from them and making money the ‘halal’ way. Ahe gets paid every month on the dot and the money is deposited into her bank account. She also receives bonuses (not part of her contract) during festive seasons, etc. She, together with hundreds of thousands of other Indonesian maids, are working here as they have no means of getting a decent salary - which could improve their living standards - in their home country. If you would like to pick a bone with me on this issue, then you must also pick a bone with the millions of Malaysians who hire foreign workers as maids and construction, factory, restaurant and plantation workers. Please also do not forget the thousands of people involved in the business of supplying these workers and also the government for not setting a higher salary for the foreign workers. I am not going to share with everyone on what my family does for my maid in return for her sacrifice to my family. It is none of anyone’s business. My children call my maid ‘akka’ which is Tamil for elder sister and they are reprimanded by my wife and myself if they misbehave towards her. My maid is treated as a human being in my home unlike many others that you read about in the papers. My children love our maid and vice-versa. For your further information Walter, I do not determine the salary that my maid is to receive. Officially, it’s our government that sets these salary cap for them. If you see this as a socio-economic problem, then perhaps you can start rallying for an increased salary for the hardcore poor Malaysian estate workers who are still suffering a great deal with a pitiful salary while estate owners make better profit margins to pay for their Mercedes Benzes and posh bungalows. Compared to these estate workers, my maid is much better off as she gets a belly full of food everyday, a comfortable bed to lie on, decent clothes, personal amenities and much better working conditions. May I further suggest that you start a campaign amongst to lobby the government to raise the minimum salary to be paid to our very own estate workers before you are irked by people like me who are paying our maids RM400 a month. I guess the plight of the estate workers has only been going on for more then two decades, which in your opinion is not a socio-economic problem. I am curious to know if you have a maid yourself or amongst your family members and how much you are paying the maid besides whatever is stated in her contract.