Guideline Modules To Employers, Maids

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry plans to create a special module to educate both the employer and maid pertaining to their respective rights and roles.Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said the ministry would further discuss the proposed module before submitting it to the Human Resources Ministry to be finalised."Although maid issues are under the Human Resources Ministry's jurisdiction, we still feel it is our responsibility to raise all the relevant issues as most maids are women," Shahrizat told reporters today after visiting the hostels for maids at the Indonesian Embassy here Thursday.She said that the special module was one of the initiatives that could be implemented to prevent the employer and maid from taking the law into their own hands."The government is taking this issue seriously. No matter who the victim is, both the employer and the maid, whether local or foreign, must abide by the law. Those guilty must be punished," she said.Meanwhile, Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Tan Sri Da'i Bachtiar said at present, there were 130 maids taking shelter at the hostels.He said 1,000 cases involving Indonesian maids were reported so far this year as compared to 854 cases reported last year."The highest cases were those involving employers who refused to pay the salaries of their maids," he said.A maid, known only as Sri Lestari, 19, said she had stayed at the hostel since last Tuesday."I was taken here by the police when they rescued me from my abusive employer's house in Damansara. My employer was arrested two days before I was brought here," she said.Lestari, from Blitar, West Java, alleged that she was regularly beaten but was too afraid to run away.She also claimed that her salary was in arrears, amounting to RM16,700.