No ready- housemaid solution

Papa secretary Foo Yong Hooi believes that Indonesian maids are generally well treated and that the Government should look at the national interests before agreeing to Indonesia’s terms on the issue.THE Indonesian Labour Minister’s decision on Thursday to stop sending maids to Malaysia amid outrage over reports of abuse is a cause for concern both for maid agencies and would-be employers.In a candid interview with Sunday Star, Foreign Workers’ Agency Association (Papa) secretary Foo Yong Hooi highlights the problems facing its members, some possible solutions to the shortage in supply of maids, including looking for other source countries, and the need for the Government to consider the country’s national interests before agreeing to Indonesia’s terms on the issue. He also maintains that maids are generally treated well and calls on the Indonesian government to be fair and not to make decisions based on isolated or minority cases of abuse.Q: It is understood that some government agencies are seeking feedback from various stakeholders, including Papa, over the recent proposal by Indonesia to insist on a day off for maids.A: Our views have been sought, yes. Papa has no objection to the proposal but we are urging the Government to consider very seriously the national consequences of implementing it.The majority of our 310,662 maids are from Indonesia (294,115). Unfortunately, a very high percentage of our male foreign workers is also from Indonesia and too many are illegals as well. There have been cases reported to Papa about maids bringing their boyfriends, and even having sex, in the house when their employers are not around. There have also been complaints about the maids enlisting outside help to steal things from their employer’s house.I am not saying all maids are bad, just as it is not right for the Indonesian press to paint Malaysian employers as heartless. There are bad and good maids, just as there are bad and good employers.Look at the statistics (see accompanying story). From the number of maids that we have, how many cases of abuse are there? I am sure the Indonesian Embassy has the figures. Let the statistics speak for themselves.I am also curious: Indonesian maids are working in Middle Eastern countries, Hong Kong, Taiwan and others, where there are cases of abuse as well. How come such abuses there do not get as much publicity or outcry from the Indonesian press?Also look at our laws. We charge the suspects in court. The Government has been very firm in this matter.On the other hand, Papa has also received complaints about maids stealing from their employers; beating, kicking and shaking the employers’ babies; and mistreating parents of the employers who are weak and old.Many of the employers just return the maids to the agencies or send them back to Indonesia without lodging police reports. To be fair, such cases should be highlighted as well.>As employers are Papa’s clients, why does Papa not object to the Indonesian proposal?>Papa tries to remain a neutral stakeholder. It is our responsibility to take care of the maids. Like it or not, Indonesia is our major source of supply and we are heavily dependent on them. When they impose such a ban – even if it is a temporary decision lasting a few months – thousands of households will be affected, with its national implications.For instance, one parent will have to take leave to look after the children until the maid arrives. Or there will be a flurry of applications to temporarily place the children into day care centres, which may compromise the quality of care given.And, on a personal note, Papa members will also lose millions of ringgit because we pay a huge amount of deposit to get each maid’s biodata, just to get the picture first.With the move to freeze supply, the Indonesian Government must also compel its agencies to refund our deposits. This is the employers’ money.The average fee to hire an Indonesian maid is now a staggering RM7,500 - 8,000. Many parties claim agencies are making a lot of money.And the employer gets back some RM3,000 from deducting the maid’s wages for an average of six months. The actual damage is RM4,500.Agencies here pay middlemen in Indonesia RM3,000 for each biodata. Many people claim Papa members pocket the money, or are in cahoots with their partners in Indonesia.But ask any Papa member, and they will say many of us have been cheated before. We pay money to get the biodatas, only to be told later that the maid will not be arriving. All kinds of excuses are given.Or they use the shortage excuse. The Indonesian side does not give us a replacement for problematic maids, such as those who run away or are rejected by their employers within the guaranteed period of three months.To keep our reputation, agencies replace the maids by forking money from our own pocket. Over the past 10 years, I can safely say cheating has caused Papa members to lose some RM20mil.> Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein recently said he would like to remind “those who like to blow up the issue” that it was the Indonesians who made the decision to come to Malaysia.> The minister has been restrained in his statement. Indonesia knows we have very limited sources of supply. They know they have a very big bargaining chip over us.Every few years, right about election time or when the Memorandum of Understanding between Indonesia and Malaysia on maids is up for renewal, there will be some blow-up in Indonesia over allegations that we abuse their maids.> What feedback does Papa get from the maids here?> Generally, both parties get on well with each other. Despite not giving them a day off a week, employers do take their maids out on Sundays for meals and recreation. To argue that not giving a day off automatically translates to inhumane treatment on the maid is unjustified. Despite not giving a day off, employers offer their maids things not stated in the contract. For instance, many send their maids home with an extra month’s pay, or buy jewellery for them as parting gifts.There are other options to the day off as well. Perhaps employers can lock into the contract a 13-month salary clause.Papa members, in a recent brainstorming session, also suggested that agencies offer some recreation programmes and employers can send their maids to us. But the problem is, will employers want to send their maids to agencies on their days off?> What about having more part-time foreign maids?> That is a workable idea if the Government allows foreign maids’ agencies to operate as cleaning agencies as well. This means the maids come into the country under our charge instead of under the employer’s name. We train them and they stay with us.Many families need house cleaning services but they do not need full-time, live-in maids.Recruitment fee for a maid here on a two-year contract works out to about RM240 a month, inclusive of immigration levy and air ticket home.Factor in the monthly salary of about RM550, food and lodging of a few hundred ringgit, and it adds up to at least RM1,200 to have a full-time maid.Each part-time maid costs about RM40 for four hours of work. Say, a family engages one for twice a week. It works out to RM320 a month.There is also national interest –less money will flow out of the country in the form of recruitment fees and remittance.But the shortage of maids will never be solved. We must work towards reducing our dependency on Indonesia.The Government has opened up four source countries – Laos, Vietnam, India and Nepal. Unfortunately, women from Nepal are not allowed to work here as maids. Laos also does not allow its women to work abroad and India wants RM1,400 a month in wages for its maids.Papa is also urging the Government to consider our appeal to approve Myanmar as a source country. We hope the Myanmar government will be kind enough to allow their womenfolk to work here as maids. However, we have to bear in mind that there is also a considerable population of Myanmar male workers in our country.Therefore, we are still dependent on Indonesia although there is a small number of maids coming from Cambodia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.China is an option that looks promising. There have been enquiries from some provinces in China about sending maids here. There is demand from some upper middle-class families to hire Chinese maids.But Papa understands the strong objection from some women’s groups who fear the potential social ills, such as maids wrecking families.But closing China off totally is not an option. Maybe we can start with a control group first. Allow a small group of maids from China and set strict conditions. For example, we can make it compulsory that each household must get the consent of the wife, or we can set the age of maids allowed to work here.Again, getting maids from China will not solve the shortage problem, but it will ease the demand by some 20%.> Has the welfare of maids been seriously looked into over the years?> Yes. In each MOU with Indonesia, we adopt more measures. Examples are compulsory bank accounts made under the maid’s names and compulsory insurance. The association also works closely with the Indonesian Embassy to report cases of abuse.> It is understood that there are other outside pressures apart from Indonesia pushing for Malaysia to make the rest day a must.> To be fair to the Government, they are being pushed into a corner in this issue although they have been very strict about the need to protect maids. The parties making the pressure must come and talk to the right stakeholders to have a holistic understanding of the issue. As I have said, don’t throw away the whole cart just because of a few bad apples.