Maids: Indonesian women still willing to work in Malaysia

2009/10/15

NST Online

Hundreds of Indonesian women are willing to work in Malaysia as domestic maids because they have heard good things about the country from their friends and relatives who have worked here, a senior Indonesian trade unionist said today.

However, it was difficult for these women to come here officially because of bureaucratic red tape back home, Treasurer General of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Union, Aisah Teisir Abdat, said.

"These women had to go through seven agents or authorities, beginning from the village head to district and provisional officials and agents, to federal level, before getting the green light," she told Bernama in an interview on the sidelines of the International Trade Union Confederation (Asia-Pacific) Regional Conference on Domestic Workers, here.

She said that since it was difficult and costly to get official permission, women took chances and entered Malaysia illegally to work as maids.

"Their illegal status then made them very vulnerable and were at the mercy of errant employers who took advantage of them," she explained.

She said that the abuse of maids was a common phenomenon in all countries around the world due to the nature of their job.

"So it was wrong to say that abuse of maids was only prevalent in Malaysia," she added.

A total of 35 participants from Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Bahrain, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia are attending the two-day conference which was opened by the Human Resources Ministry secretary-general Datuk R. Segarajah.

Meanwhile, Malaysian participant Dr Irene Fernandez said the maids were very vulnerable as they worked in homes "which are considered to be private entity and no outsiders are allowed access."

"This makes it difficult to reach them if they need assistance," she said.

This was why, she added, that it was important to give these maids a day off a week.

"They can utilise this off days to seek redress from either the Labour Department or non-governmental organisations," Fernandez said. - Bernama