Hotline For Maids ..

PUTRAJAYA, June 10 (Bernama) -- Abused maids can call the Manpower Department's hotline 03-88889111 for assistance in an emergency, Manpower director-general Datuk Ismail Abdul Rahim said today.The maids could also get immediate assistance from the nearest Manpower office, he told Bernama.He was commenting on the report on an Indonesian maid, Siti Hajar, who was abused by her employer and ran away to take refuge at the Indonesian embassy.Ismail said his officers had interviewed Siti Hajar and would assist her to get the arrears of her salary from her employer. The employer is now under police remand.Ismail said contrary to what the trade unions maintained, maids in the country were protected under the law."The contract which maids have with their employers is enforceable and can be used to obtain lost pay, leave or other benefits they are entitled to under the contract," he added.Meanwhile, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) called on the government to blacklist employers and their family members who abuse or mistreat their maids.Its vice-president A. Balasubramaniam said abuse of maids was a great cause of concern as it not only meant the denial of human rights, but also gave a negative image of the country to the outside world, particularly the source country.Balasubramaniam said once a family had been found guilty of abusing a maid, all members should be barred from employing a maid.He said the Manpower Department's hotline number should be given wide publicity and in fact be given to the maids by their agents when they arrived in the country.He reiterated MTUC's stand that these maids should be given at least one day off a week in which they could use it to lodge complaints at the Manpower Department if they were abused.Meanwhile, Tenaganita, the non-governmental organisation which specialises in assisting abused maids, had so far this year rescued 148 maids and some of them were as young as 14 years old.It director Irene Fernandez said Tenaganita's work with the domestic workers revealed that "the key cause of continued abuse, violence and exploitation is because both employers and the state regard the work environment of these maids, that is the home, to be a private domain"."Thus, an outsider cannot interfere in this private domain and so the abuse continues," Fernandez added.She said the exclusion of the maid from the Employment Act 1955, denied them the right to off days, medical benefits, overtime pay, annual leave and social security benefits.Fernandez also took enforcement agencies to task for being slow in their investigations."The maid is a human being with dignity, rights and needs, so it is essential for the state and the community to ensure that she is adequately protected," she stressed.