Foreign maids victimized
Wed, October 01 2008
The New Straits Times carried a report on Selvi, 28, born to an impoverished family in Andhra Pradesh. She was forced to marry her elderly uncle at 16. The marriage did not work out and she returned home only to find that her parents were too old and ill to care for her any more.
They took a loan against their house in order to pay an agent to find her a job in Malaysia.
Her eyes filled with tears as she recounted the nightmarish events that followed. Selvi said she not only had to take care of the chores, but also look after the family’s two young children.
Her day would start at 4 a.m. and not end until 1 a.m. She was made to hand-wash the clothes even though they had a washing machine.
She was only given leftovers to eat.
“After a few months, I found that they were sending my parents RM350 (about $150) monthly instead of the RM500 as promised. When I asked my employer about it, I was slapped until my nose bled,” she said.
The abuse continued until last year when she was thrown out.
Selvi’s experience has left her scarred and full of painful memories. “Malaysia is a horrible place and I never want to come back,” she was quoted as saying.
Malaysia, a prosperous Southeast Asian nation, depends heavily on maids from countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
“There are easily half a million ‘slaves’ in Malaysia,” the newspaper said in another report. “Shipped in from other countries, they are, for a mere pittance, made to work insanely long hours, given no rest days and often kept closely confined.”
Domestic servant is one sector of employees who are excluded from all the benefits accorded to workers under the Employment Act 1955.
The act only provides them recourse in cases of unpaid wages and if they are not given a notice period of 14 days prior to termination.
While cases like abuse are criminal matters and can be referred to the police, the lack of legal protection under the act means that there is no limit to the number of hours or the number of consecutive days a maid can be made to work.
Malaysian Trades Union Congress Indian origin vice-president A. Balasubramaniam said maids did not get any of the benefits normal employees take for granted.
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