I HAVE to post this really great article by Helen Ang in MalaysiaKini about the rampant abuse of Indonesian domestic workers in Malaysia and the Malaysian government's arrogance in dealing with the problem. The article is smart, funny and written with the Swiftian razor-sharp wit. Great job!
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Dear President Bambang, about the maids...
Helen Ang
Jul 2, 2009
4:18pm
Dear President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
I'm writing this open letter to you, sir, in the spirit of 1Asean.
I implore that your country should not be jealous of our Malaysian success. On top of other proud achievements, Malaysia adds another feather to our cap: We have the world's longest working hours - thanks to Indonesian women employed here as domestic help.
Last week, Indonesia banned your citizens coming to Malaysia as maids. It's wholly understandable that your country is unhappy about the brawn drain to your neighbours, just as Malaysia is unhappy about our brain drain to Singapore.
It is a shame that we are poaching Indonesia's best talents in our pursuit of superlatives, from biggest ketupat to world's most expensive space tourist, and now our record-breaking 98-hour work week - an amazing feat attributed to Indon maids working 14 hours a day, seven days a week in Malaysian homes.
But please sir, don't ban sending maids just because you envy our success.
Instead be humble enough to learn from Malaysia so that Indonesia can eventually surpass us with your own 100-hour work week. It is our Asian values that propel Asean countries to becoming world champions in this; just compare with the backward French who have a 35-hour work week.
Mr President, let me share with you Malaysia's magic formula. Despite the Official Secrets Act, I managed to obtain the relevant information from our Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prohibition of Vice.
Relating to this data, the group editor of profitable newspaper The Star, Wong Chun Wai recently wrote: "From sexually transmitted diseases to eloping with Indonesian construction workers to sex romps in the employers' rooms, there is no end to such stories if the Indonesian press cares to do balanced reporting."
Sigh, the things that the Indonesian press don't tell you. You see, sir, if you're kept in the dark, then of course your government will not know how to overcome these distractions of STDs, elopement and sex romps that deter maids from concentrating on their target of accomplishing 98 hours of work a week.
This is how we deal with it in Malaysia. As you may already be aware, employers here will keep their maid's passport. What you're likely not aware is that when the Indon women land on our shores, Malaysian employers quickly lock them in a chastity belt. The employer then holds on to the key for safekeeping.
Both passport and chastity belt key will be returned to the maid when her contract expires.
Oops, accidents happen
Conscientious parents always childproof the nursery by putting rubber guards on corners of furniture. The parents do not leave things lying around which may hurt a young child, such as plastic bags which can cause a toddler to suffocate or small objects which can cause him to choke.
Conscientious Malaysian employers similarly maid-proof their homes by making sure that they do not leave things lying around which may hurt simple women from remote Indonesian villages. We ensure dangerous electrical appliances and sharp implements are kept away from maids.
This precautionary measure is to prevent the maids from accidentally scalding themselves with boiling water, burning themselves with hot iron, wounding themselves with scissors or bruising themselves with hammer since they don't know how to use all these tools properly.
It is an occupational hazard that sees maids sustaining those horrific injuries and scars on their bodies. Making their workplaces safer has ensured optimal performance, and that is why Indon maids in Malaysia outperform in man hours their countrywomen doing the same job in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.
In fact, Malaysia has such high safety standards that only eight cases of physical abuse have been filed in the country since the beginning of the year, according to a report in The Star.
Yet, the international press has said that 150 complaints are lodged every month with the authorities in Indonesia, alleging ill-treatment, overwork, unpaid salaries and physical abuse whilst in Malaysia.
I suspect this discrepancy in the figures is due to Malaysians doing our Math in English. Alas, since most of us find it hard to construct a sentence in English correctly, we find it similarly hard to make numbers add up correctly.
Once our English improves, so will our Math and vice versa, claims Dr Mahathir Mohamad, whose brainchild the Math-in-English project is.
How much is she worth?
The monthly salary of an Indon maid is between RM450 and RM600.
Whereas I have calculated the value of a maid's work to be at least RM6,575. You can read how I arrived at my estimate in this article for the Centre for Policy Initiatives.
Nonetheless Mr President, you must be puzzled as to why Malaysia is only paying Indon maids a fraction of their actual worth (although we pay Filipinos slightly more). The reason is our greater love for Indonesia, for are we not brothers?
Now imagine if we gave Indonesian women a salary of RM5,000-RM6,000 ... then too many might opt to become guest workers in Malaysia. This development would surely hurt your feelings; already there is much anger that one of your most beautiful girls Manohara Odelia Pinot (left) was earlier lost to Malaysia.
Therefore, in order to 'jaga hati' - we truly don't want to make Indonesia even more jealous of us - we've deliberately underpaid maids so that we don't entice too many Indon women to come over. It is unfortunate that Singapore is not as considerate, seeing how the island republic has no qualms about enticing smart Malaysian youngsters.
The Star - a newspaper that speaks for the nation - had a 'Focus' special feature recently titled 'Indon maids better off than local blue collar workers'. The paper said: "Now, there's talk that maids need a day off every week. For many a maid, though, the only holidays they really need are the ones they get when they go home to their loved ones, flush with funds."
More than three-quarters of the said newspaper's readership do not believe that Indon maids need a rest day. It is really only through the kindness of their hearts that they insist on this arrangement. These Star people think that if maids work without any break, then your women will be able to accumulate flush funds faster, so that they can go home to their loved ones in Indonesia all the sooner.
Dear sir, I hope my explanation above has been helpful in clearing up a bit of Indonesia's misunderstanding over Malaysian treatment of maids. On my part, I'm sorry to hear about Siti and others having to go through their painful and traumatic experiences.
I hope that the Malaysian Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers and National Repentance will apologise to you and your country. But then again, Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein is talking tough and saying that Malaysia can shop elsewhere, and cheaper too! So perhaps not.
In any case, thank you sir for taking the time to read my letter. May I wish you all the best for the Republic of Indonesia's upcoming presidential election.
Yours sincerely,
Helen Ang
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