MAY 3 ― On Labour Day, everyone forgot one person in the home whom we should rightly call extended family members — or employees if you so wish — but whom many introduce as servants.
You can be sure that none of them had the day off, even if May 1 was a national public holiday. You can be sure they had to slog it out as usual — washing the cars, bathing the pets, cleaning, cooking and being the nanny.
Two years ago, this column had suggested that the words servant and maid be dropped as national policy and be replaced with employees in order for them to enjoy the rights and privileges that are recognised and protected by law.
On the eve of this Labour Day, the Domestic Workers Campaign Coalition made public the government’s proposed regulations on employment of house help that apparently ignored domestic workers’ entitlement to all human rights.
Further, it was claimed that the regulations did not spell out broad actions to ensure those rights were upheld in practice.
The coalition, in a statement, said the Human Resources Ministry had quietly proposed the “Regulations (Terms & Conditions of Employment) of Domestic Servants 2014” which it described as “one of the most significant documents” on the protection of domestic workers proposed in Malaysia.
The human resources minister, the coalition said, continued to define them as domestic servants, “thereby continuing to exclude them from key sections in the Employment Act, 1955” when the regulations are meant to be read alongside the Act.
The coalition argued that continued classification of domestic workers as “servants” was a reflection of blatant discrimination against them as they would lose out on primary provisions in the Employment Act that are enjoyed by all other workers.
It stated: “The proposed regulations are the most significant move by the government in several decades regarding laws on domestic workers but they are very weak.”
The ministry, the coalition claimed, had not formally asked any NGOs for feedback, although it had requested the Bar Council’s views by March 30.
Clearly, recognition of their work as work is essential as a first step in shielding domestic workers’ rights unless someone thinks they are a commodity to be exploited. Unless someone thinks they have no dignity and humanity.
Given a long litany of abuses to domestic workers, the vast majority of whom are women and girls, you can’t blame other countries for thinking we possess a vicarious streak of sadism that leaves people open-mouthed in shock.
Are you surprised that there were 105,119 cases of foreign domestic workers running away from their employers between 2008 and 2013?
Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil this week suggested that runaway domestic workers had fled middle-income employers and caused losses of more than RM1 billion.
However, she did not provide any data to back her claim and it appeared a figure plucked from thin air. Just saying that runaway maids had forced many women to quit their jobs to handle household chores and to take care of their children is lame.
If Shahrizat wants the government to be serious about having more women playing key roles in the country’s economy, she should be armed with facts and figures and take it to Human Resources Minister Datuk Richard Riot Jaem before the new regulations on domestic workers are enforced.
We know already that about half the population in the employment market is made up of women. We know it costs about RM8,000 to hire a foreign domestic worker and that employers need to fork out the same amount to get a replacement maid.
What we don’t know is how Shahrizat intends to ensure that the rights of domestic workers are protected. Fighting for a fee reduction of RM5,000 to hire a foreign domestic worker and a review of paying the full amount for a replacement house help will not solve the problem.
We welcome foreigners with open arms into our country to help us progress in various sectors that locals are either reluctant or too lazy to participate in. Granted, there are the dastardly lot who chop off the all-embracing arms of a warm, sympathetic Malaysia.
But no one should be deprived of their self-worth and Malaysia has a moral obligation to ensure that the rights and welfare of her foreign workforce, especially the most vulnerable of them ― domestic workers ― are protected.
If we had a migrant-care soul, we wouldn’t be seeing denigration of morality and respect. If we are a decent society, we must abhor maltreatment and bias and dispense with regulations that are unacceptable in a democratic country. This we must guarantee.
*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
