The gothic horrors of foreign maid suffering in Malaysia
By : Azmi Anshar

DEWAN RAKYAT, June 29, 2009:

IF ever the choice was the ideal one to make, women in this world would vote that working as a maid is a hell of a Hobson’s choice, the pits when it comes to “legal” options. But when reality sets in, coupled by the manic ruthlessness of class warfare, women from underdeveloped, Third World nations have as much a choice as a penitentiary inmate on the kinds of jobs that bring in hard-earned money to buy food, shelter and clothing for the family. Being a maid is the easiest anywhere where the country is economically developed but the toughest to stay put and the hardest to predict a future.

Perhaps with the exception of English butlers and housekeepers, maids all over the world possess similar qualifications - physically determined, academically challenged and very vulnerable to legal conundrums and employers’ whims and fancies. Because their designated job title is “maid”, their status is looked down the same way most people look at garbage collectors and road sweepers - with little respect for their dignity as human beings and littler empathy for the hard work they put in day in and day out.

English butlers are so well trained and well regarded that there are those who earn millions a year, such is the respect and honour accorded to their status. You don’t see butlers wearing uniforms like Jeeves these days except for special formal functions but they most likely will don business suits, Gucci or Armani preferably, if he were to run errands for the master instead of cleaning the toilets.

However, the lack of homage to foreign maids is reflected in the way Malaysians pay them - as little as RM300 a month and no more than RM700 for those who have registered the experience and seniority. But the cash bears no resemblance to the toil they put in. Household employers argue that the cash is tax free and clean, on top of the room and board, food and clothes they also provide. How civic-mindedly conscientious of these employers but accepting their argument without the benefit of compassion and care for their servants is no different from the employers who exploit workers in sweat shops.

One recent example was the employers’ howls of protest after the Government proposed that maids get a day off a week but yet these same people would file lawsuits against their companies and lodge reports with their respective trade unions if they don’t get their obligatory two-days off plus the public holidays. They take their days off for granted but ironically, they simply are unable to pass down the same benefit to their maids. This benign form of hypocrisy is so much taken for granted.

Oh yes, they provide you a series of horror stories of maids who abandon and abuse helpless children at their convenience and become chief suspects in inside jobs of burglary and robbery. Admittedly, these are real examples and they must be punished the same way a parent who smashes their child with a bottle or whip them with a belt is charged with abuse. Then there’s the inane complaint - maids meet men and forge unconscionable relationships, getting pregnant because they use their day offs to frolic with their boyfriends.

It proves the point that maids are not only treated with disdain and their work unappreciated, but they are also not permitted to behave like human beings while their bosses can indulge in affairs. It’s not the same thing. Malaysians idea of the ideal maid is a stone-cold workaholic with icy veins and a hydrogen battery pack and indulged with a Stepford wife-like, slavish disposition to do anybody’s bidding with no whinging or drama queen antics.

The typical Malaysian household have maids in tow when they eat in a fancy restaurant. The maids are easily recognisable - they are the ones who sit away from the main table, taking care of attention-deficit junior and not only offered the fine food but sometimes no food at all. They must wait until they get home and eat the two-minute noodle but not the chocolates or the ice cream. They cannot retire for the night until junior is tucked in or the mistress of the house is done with imposing endless instructions to clean that toilet bowl or sweep again the forever dusty porch.

To be fair, the one day off demand for maids may be off putting for most households, so let’s focus on something a little bit easier - what about eight-hour work days just like everybody else in this country. But maids are like one of the family, so they should be taken advantage of and put to work ceaselessly. Oh yeah? Then why not pamper the maids like junior or the little princess. Or try forcing junior to clean his own clothes and make up his own bed or princess to wash the dishes if the lame one-of-the-family argument is dished out. Foreign maids, whether Malaysian would like to admit it or not, are overworked and underpaid.

Whenever an Indonesian maid is abused (must it always be an Indonesian maid all the time?), of course the Indonesian Government overreacts, especially during an election year, the latest official edict is to stop sending more maids to Malaysia. The Indonesians forget that their maids are not the only game in town. China, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and a host of eager women are itching to get a piece of the action. But overreact or not, no foreign maid deserves a bashing in the head or a horrendous scalding. These demented employers should be publicly whipped, and not just jailed or fined.

So praise be the Human Resource Deputy Minister, Datuk Maznah Mazlan, who revealed today in the House that the 251,355 foreign maids would be given benefits in an amendment to the Employment Act 1955. This means minimum wage, Employees Providence Fund (EPF) contributions, social security coverage and cost of living allowance. Please top that with the eight-hour day and weekly day off too.

Besides injecting professionalism into the job, the goal has an irrelevant sub-plot - slash dependence (overdependence?) on foreign maids to encourage local maidens to take up the slack. Good luck on that! Ever remotely hear of a local girl working as a maid in Kuala Lumpur? They would either be mad or masochistic. Most local girls would regard the proposal as an insult.

Why enter into the aggravation when the work at the Petaling Jaya electronics plant is better paid, plus regular perks that foreign maids can only dream of getting - eight-hour work days, two days off a week, health/medical insurance, two-week annual paid vacation, annual bonuses and best of all, the freedom to romantically socialise and fraternise.

Malaysians’ uneven relationships with their foreign maids have generated tales of sweetness…and gothic horrors. We have wonderful maids just as we have the lunatics who pee on food before serving to their crass employers. We also have majority of employers so kind and compassionate that they pay their maids in excess of RM700 a month, pay their annual ‘balik kampung’ return air tickets, a day off in a week and no need to cook as long as they religiously care for junior - just as we have the two-legged beasts who think nothing of chaining up their hired hands inside a little lock-up so they cannot flee to freedom.

But this does not preclude the fundamental need to treat maids as human beings and workers no different from white-collared and blue-collared professionals. Malaysians have to strip away their twisted class dogma and start treating and paying foreign maids just as they make the same demands of their bosses, companies and corporations.