Ahmat The Bibik in Malaysia: A Human Rights Perspective Nurjannah Iman Syaqirene Ahmat, The College Bibik, literally

carrying the meaning aunt in Indonesian language, is a household name for female Indonesian domestic helpers1 who have become a shared privilege among the majority of urban middle-class families in Malaysia. Present discourse points to revelations about the problematic Malaysian treatment of these female migrants numbering 280,000 people thus far (Star, Nov. 23, 2009). The abuse case involving Indonesian maid Nirmala Bonat whose

breast was repeatedly pressed with hot iron by her Malaysian female employer (NYTimes, June 22, 2004) made global headlines and have led to follow up exposs on the physical abuse of Indonesian maids in Malaysia. As a result of this continuing coverage on ill treatment of their migrant workers in Malaysia, the Indonesian government effectively launched a temporary moratorium on Indonesian maid export to Malaysia beginning June 2009. The mainstream local press, The Star has since reported on the Indonesian governments call for a minimum wage between MYR600 to MYR800 for its maids that met wide contestations from the public (Star, Sept. 9, 2009). Beyond the perceptible human rights abuse in such a case, Malaysian public dissent from a minimum wage for the Indonesian maids should be of concern to us because it is telling of the worth of the maids in the eyes of Malaysian employers. Psychological abuses, subordination and degradation of Indonesian maids are wont to dismissal whereas in reality, they further compound the Indonesian maid experience in Malaysia as a human rights problem. International nongovernmental organizations (NGO), namely Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International may relentlessly release statements pressing for a stop to the abuses, but advocacy work would
1

From this point on, the female gender of these foreign maids are implied because Malaysian immigration laws only permit the intake of female domestic help (Malaysian Immigration Dept). I will drop the term female and refer to them as maids/domestic helpers/workers for simplicity and economy.

Ahmat be futile without getting to the crux of the problem. We need to comprehend the psyche of

Malaysian people as employers and then analyze whether the problem is an experience shared by all migrant workers be it from Indonesia, Filipina, or Bangladesh or a uniquely Indonesian problem. Drawing from case studies on Indonesian maids in Malaysia and Singapore and personal observations on my family bibik, this paper will show that Malaysian opinion on immigrants has always been prejudiced and is especially more nuanced with the instance of Indonesian maids. The cultural proximity between Malays and Indonesians has isolated and perhaps exacerbated the Indonesian maid experience from those of permitted Cambodian, Filipina, Sri Lankan and Thai counterparts in the Malay-dominated state of Malaysia (Malaysian Dept. of Immigration). Thus, I find it critical to perceive the specific day-to-day treatment, opinion on and degradation of Indonesian maids as a social differentiation on the basis of class and more importantly, nationality. I will make the case that the Indonesian maid experience in Malaysia is a result of the process of Othering based on these two distinctions reinforced through the channels of public image, Malaysian immigration laws. Coming to this understanding regarding treatment of Indonesian maids, I will ultimately allude to the human rights implication and movements in framing the problem within the human rights dimension, as it needs to be seen. The influx of Indonesian maids into Malaysia, which is at the core of the issue, can first be seen as a response to the Malaysian middle-class demand for foreign domestic helper. Before the industrialization of Malaysia, employing a foreign domestic helper was a privilege that belonged to expatriates and local elite households of civil servants in the colonial British government or post-Independence Malay majority government. Less privileged of either Malay, Indian or Chinese households would instead get young local girls from rural areas as servant

Ahmat girls at much lower salaries while some outsourced domestic chores like laundry and send young children to neighborhood women who acted as babysitters (Huang and Yeoh 1996, 483). It is also common practice for women to leave their younger children with relatives in the kampung (village) in lightening their domestic burden, and collect them once they ascend into the schooling age. This history should hitherto show that procurement of domestic help has always been a commonality across the main races (Malay, Chinese and Indian) and middle to upper classes in Malaysia. Demand for foreign domestic maids in Malaysia surged when the advent of industrialization in the 1970s drastically declined the availability of local servants. At that time, young working class Malaysian Malay, Chinese and Indian women traded domestic work of the home to the work of sewing garments and assembling electronic chips in factories owned by transnational corporations (Chin 1997, 360). As communities become more urbanized, Malaysian women in the cities attain higher education and are now fully participating in the economy. In a patriarchal setting where women are relegated to housework, urban households have to employ foreign maids to cope with those chores since urbanized women now face time constraint between balancing family, career and leisure2. It must be noted that even in the case where women are homemakers, stay-at-home mothers or pensioners, maids are commonly employed. Why? I can offer that the long-standing tradition of domestic help in Malaysia has made the employment of foreign maids an important aspect of the middle-class pursuit of a modern and urban identity and lifestyle. In sum, the inclusion of women into the economic sphere and the rise in household income within a strong patriarchal like Malaysia, coupled with the fact that foreign maids serve as status symbols to the Malaysian middle-class, have all
2

For the purposes of the paper, feminization of domestic work as is the patriarchal norm is not taken as a concern because I am focusing on Malaysian employee and Indonesian maid relations.

Ahmat necessarily created a niche for foreign maids that would take over the household responsibilities these women no longer want to do. Specifically, Indonesian maids fulfill this Malaysian need as increasing economic disparities between countries induce female Indonesians to migrate to Malaysia for jobs. As Huang and Yeoh explain in their research involving domestic helpers in Singapore, rapid economic development of some countries in the region relative to the slower development of their neighbors have created employment opportunitiestypically low-skilled, low-paying and low-status jobsin the richer economies (Huang and Yeoh 1996, 480). As such, a developed

Singapore and rapidly developing Malaysia become the two hubs for migrant workers from other South East Asian countries. Considering also the geographical proximity and convenience of travel either by air or water between Indonesia and Malaysia, it is understandable that Indonesian maids dominate the domestic labor market in Malaysia. This is proven by available statistics that show Indonesians making up more than 90% of the 300 000 total maids in the country; 15,000 are from the Philippines, while those from Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia make up the remainder (Star, Nov. 22, 2009). Crucial to our discussion regarding their differential treatments are the typical characteristics of the Indonesian females who migrate to work as maids in Malaysia. Official documents generally record the ages of these females between 18 to 40 years when in truth their ages range from 14 to 40 years. The females are usually, single, married or divorced (World Bank 2006). There is further consensus between case studies and a World Bank fact sheet on female Indonesian migrant workers that most of them have little education background, sometimes only up to primary school or none at all (World Bank 2006, 2; Chin 1997, 361). Geographically, these maids come from select, under-developed regions such as Central and East

Ahmat Java, Yogyakarta, East and West Nusa Tenggara, Sumatera and South Sulawesiplaces unlike Jakarta, the bustling metropolis of Indonesia. With regards to that, economic factors such as

uncertain wage and unemployment back home in those rural villages and perceived higher wages in labor-receiving countries fuel these maids search for rezeki (hard-earned, honest earning) abroad. The maids then cite using rezeki to improve the living standards of [their] families; repair or build a home, send [their] children to school, or purchase agricultural land (UN 2005, 14). However, the UN reported that the wage rate received as a domestic helper in Malaysia typically ranges from MYR350 to MYR6003 (USD100 to USD171), only four times higher than the wage rate received by domestic helpers working locally in Jakarta. This extremely modest wage pales in comparison to the minimum RM1396.40 (USD400) that Filipina maids in Malaysia receive by the decree of the Philippines Overseas Employment Administration. Meanwhile, Indonesian domestic workers in Saudi Arabia are entitled to a salary of SAR8004 (USD213) per month without any deductions (HRW, May 10, 2010). Among countries employing large numbers of Indonesian domestic workers, The World Bank reports maid earnings to be highest in Hong Kong and Taiwan and lowest in Malaysia; implying that all these other countries would be more lucrative destinations for the Indonesians maid to work in rather than Malaysia. Alas, why then would Malaysia still be the number one destination for these female domestic labor migrants? Here, I propose the concept of cultural proximity between Malays and Indonesians as a crucial factor in discussing the Indonesian maid preference for working in Malaysia. Negara serumpun or bangsa serumpun are ways people of the two countries would describe their
3
4

MYR is Malaysian Ringgit SAR is Saudi Arabian Riyal

Ahmat relation to one another. The terms convey the likeness of cultural roots, historical relations,

religion and ethnicity between Malays and Indonesians (Unspun blog, 4 Nov. 2009)5. Trivial but important details of this serumpun trait is the convenience at which Indonesian Muslim maids can perform their religious observations like fasting and celebrate the same festivals in Malaysia as they would back home. Moreover, the religion rule under Malaysian immigration law allows a Muslim employer to hire only Muslim domestic helpers, thus simplifying the Indonesian maid experience in Malaysia (Malaysian Dept. of Immigration). In this case, Muslim Indonesian maids do not have to worry about carrying out prohibitions like bathing dogs or cooking pork while Malaysians in general, understand and respect these Muslim traditions6. Even for non-Muslim Indonesian maids, easy adjustments can be seen in terms of food, language and of course, climate, among other things. This is further evinced by Indonesian Sociology Research Director Khairudin Harahap who argues that if [Indonesian maids] were to go to the United States or Hong Kong, it would be difficult for them to communicate in English or Chinese . . . Malaysia is an ideal place, especially so with the tolerance level of the government and people of Malaysia (Malaysian Insider, Nov. 8, 2009). All things considered, one would hypothesize a harmonious relation between the Indonesian maid and the middle-class Malaysian employer, but would subsequently be proven wrong. Middle-class Malaysian employers, beyond the cases of abuse that warrant media attention, tend to degrade and control Indonesian maids that work for them day in and day out. News reports of high profile abuse cases graphically detail how some foreign Indonesian maids are abused by their Malaysian employers, but little is mentioned of other servants complaints
5

This is a translation of a preface originally published in the new Malaysian-Indonesian language dictionary launched on November 2, 2009 by the Embassy of Indonesia to Malaysia. 6 Muslims are prohibited from eating or touching pigs, dogs and all their derivatives except in some circumstances.

Ahmat

such as having to sleep on kitchen floors, along corridors, or in storage rooms with no ventilation; working eighteen-hour days with few rest periods or even rest days; and not having adequate meals (Chin 1997, 354). These relatively less appalling forms of employer abuse are documented mostly in the reports of NGOs concerned with foreign female domestic workers' welfare in Malaysia and other labor-receiving countries (Chin 1999, 354). I argue that this is particularly an isolated Indonesian maid experience as Filipina maids are considered to be better educated and perhaps more worldly because they can communicate in English. Employers then take these narrow-minded perceptions to justify their ownership and control of the Indonesian maids (Chin 1997, 374). A clear example of the differentiation between Indonesian and Filipina maids is that most Filipina maids are given a holiday on Sunday so they could congregate in Church, while most Indonesian maids work every day of the week and do not leave home at all (Chin 1997, 374). The following testimonies offered in a case study of Filipina and Indonesian maids in Malaysia should further exemplify the ways Malaysian employers treat their Indonesian maids as they see fit:
Why let the girl out? Once a month is OK, but she doesn't really need a day off because she's staying in your house. Keep her SVLV7. Don't let her go to the pasar malam8 and open a bank account for her, put her salary there, dont give it to her (Chin 1997, 378)

For the Malaysian employers, the main concern in allowing their Indonesian maids to go to leave the private sphere of the household is the prospect of them socializing with other maids that would negatively influence their conduct at home (Chin 1997, 378). Not to mention that the

SVLV is an English acronym for Sijil Perjalanan Laksana Paspot; a travel document issued by the Indonesian state to its migrant maids. More about SVLV on page 11. 8 Pasar malam is an evening, open-air market that is a typical culture in many South East Asian countries. It boasts a bustling activity of buying and selling cheap food and goods.

Ahmat employers do not want their maids getting ideas about asking for a raise and better treatment from the employers.

Let me elucidate my family experience with our former live-in maid as a further example. Bibik Muriatun had been living with my family for 19 years and we claim her family by buying her new clothes and presents and passing down our old goods for her children back home in Surabaya, Indonesia. My grandmother and I are her closest companions, but everyone in the household generally takes an interest in Bibiks well-being and affairs. The paradoxical fact is that Bibik remains the subordinate while even younger ones like myself and my siblings are considered to be her effective employers too. Typically, Indonesian maids rarely join their employers families during meals, and Bibik is no exception. Bibik is also expected to attend to our familys every whims and needs and is violently chided by some intolerant family members if she fails to do so. To be embarrassingly frank, these repeated verbal assaults would often include derogatory remarks like orang Indonesia bangsat (Indonesian people are worthless), bangsat menumpang sahaja (worthless person sponging off other people) andtak tahu malu tumpang negara orang (you have no shame living in other peoples country). In a study by Christine Chin regarding representations of Filipina and Indonesian maids in Malaysia, a labor attach at an Indonesian deployment agency discounts abuse and mistreatment cases by Malaysian employers by claiming Indonesian servants were also lazy and stupid and deserved it (Chin 1997, 369). These remarks pan to a larger issue at hand because if Malays and Indonesians, especially, are ethno-cultural cousins and have similarities that could overcome differences, then why do Malaysians degrade Indonesians maids? The answer lies in persistent public discourse associating Indonesian immigrants with

Ahmat various social ills. Dating back to as early as the 1980s, media reports have been highly implicated with news about crimes, sexual abuse and police raids involving Indonesian immigrant workers (Spaan et al. 2001, 167). For example, it is common xenophobic reaction to immediately attribute any crime occurrence in a neighborhood that has a construction site employing Indonesian male laborers to those workers. Not coincidentally, Indonesian immigrants also pervade the public sphere as potential health hazards for third-world related

diseases like tuberculosis, malaria and leprosy since they are seen to come from backward socioeconomic order (Spaan et al. 2001, 163). This intimidating depiction of an increase in crime rate and regression to health problems of Malaysias past has certainly contributed to the hostility of the Malaysian public towards Indonesian immigrants as a whole. Sociology Research Director Karahap quoted earlier is privy to this popular opinion because he summoned Indonesian maids to abide by the rules and laws of [Malaysia] and not create social problems if they wanted to stay in Malaysia (Malaysian Insider, Nov. 8, 2009). Indonesian maids also receive their share of negative attention on the mainstream media. In particular, these maidsseen as citizens of a poverty-stricken country hard pressed for incomeare linked to prostitution on the sidelines and thus are seen as promiscuous women lacking hygiene and morality (Chin 1997, 372). Indeed, local news agencies have sensationalized numerous cases of romantic affairs of these Indonesian maids with either Malaysian men or other immigrant workers, commonly Bangladeshi construction workers. That being the case, there is also prejudiced public fear that these maids will spread AIDS and other venereal diseases as they fool around with [Malaysian men] (Spaan et al. 164). In addition, news of child abuse committed by irresponsible Indonesian maids is covered extensively and is met with huge public outcry. News of the kind exactly creates the distrust that employers use to justify strictly

Ahmat 10 supervising the Indonesian maids. Chins study best argues that a combination of the perceived danger Indonesian immigrants in general bring, and the sexual and criminal tendencies of these maids further heightens and justifies the sense of ownership and control the Malaysian employer has over the Indonesian maid (Chin 1997, 373). Within all this public opinion on Indonesian immigrants, the strongest sentiments are reserved for issues of illegal Indonesian immigration into the country. Although never explicitly or officially acknowledged, state authorities' concern with both migrant workers and illegal immigrant can be read as driven by the interest in ensuring "national security. To paint an example, police and immigration officials have been known to conduct raids on places known to harbor illegal migrants from time to time (Chin 1999, 370). In 2004, the Malaysian government launched an amnesty program that granted pardon to illegal immigrants or those who overstayed and sent them back to their country of origin. Due to lukewarm response and the seemingly stubborn stance of the illegal immigrants, the government deployed two voluntary bodies made up of civil society called RELA and Rukun Tetangga to help the authorities mount major raid operations (Bernama, Nov. 25, 2004). Historically, RELA and Rukun Tetangga were only mobilized to combat real threats by communist guerilla attacks in the 1940s and racial street brawls in 1963 (Bernama, Nov. 25, 2004). This should raise some concern regarding the legitimacy of treating immigrants as enemies of the state and using such an aggressive and potentially violent strategy in dealing with them. The Prime Minister of Malaysia just recently announced in May 2010 that the country would commence another amnesty window again (Star, May 21, 2010) and we should therefore be wary of the governments consequent actions from the human rights perspective. In any case, the end results of disconcerting images of squatter areas and a sea of illegal

Ahmat 11 immigrants at a detention center serve as powerful psychological tools to instill in Malaysians the sense of belonging to the country, in tandem with the sentiment that immigrant workers, including Indonesian maids serving in their households, do not. As Chin aptly puts it, the illegal immigrant issue leads Malaysians to view deviant and problem-causing Indonesian immigrants as social pariahs who ought to be and are captured in detection centers segregated from public social space and activities (Chin 1997, 372). Confined to their limited power, Malaysian employers take it upon themselves to remind Indonesian maids that the latter would never be equal in terms of nationality and class through disparaging physical and psychological abuse. In response to the ongoing and ominous Indonesian illegal immigration, the Malaysian state shifted from its laissez faire approach to a migration policy grounded on economic need and social security concerns over the course of the 1970s to the 2000s (Spaan et al. 2001, 167). For example, under Immigration Act 2002, foreign maids are required to undergo three medical examinations; once before arrival in the country, once during the first six months of employment and once before the end of the two-year contract (Star, April 16, 1994). The Malaysian government has also collaborated with the Indonesian state to produce a travel document, Sijil Perjalanan Laksana Paspot that works as an insurance against maids who run away from Malaysian employers presumably to prostitute themselves or work for different employers (Chin. 1997, 363). With regards to this, Indonesian maids face a two year full-term contract, a strict renewal process and also a three month probation period in which employers can default on the agreements and receive compensation from domestic employment agencies (DOE) they contracted (Spaan et al. 2001, 169). I suggest these as impediments to an Indonesian maids work opportunities in Malaysia, because employers can easily discard maids they do not like or switch to a different one every two years. Essentially, these legislations endow the Malaysian

Ahmat 12 employer with absolute control over the Indonesian maid as they can threaten to not renew the contract. At the same time that Malaysian immigration laws have been made more stringent, no labor law has been amended to include Indonesian maids. Human Rights Watch reported that The 1955 Employment Act, which is the principal source of labor laws in Malaysia, excludes domestic servants from provisions entitling them to rest days, limited hours of work, public holidays, annual leave, sick leave and maternity protections (HRW 2008, 4). Up to this day, there are still no clear lines drawn within the Malaysian legal framework about the provisions of holidays, working hours and scope of work that Indonesian domestic maids as wageworkers should be entitled to. Clearly, the apparent lack of labor policies benefiting Indonesian maids and equally restrictive immigration laws all appeal to the social stigma the Malaysian public fastens to Indonesian immigrants. Worse still, these policies have a stake in the Indonesian maid experience and can either make or break their experiences. On that account, Indonesian maids do not have any support system to guarantee their welfare in Malaysia except for Memorandum of Agreements (MoA) between their state and Malaysia. Under the current moratorium on the export of Indonesian maids to Malaysia, both governments are undergoing negotiations to revise the MoA previously signed in 2006 (HRW 2010). The two nations have reached accord in allowing Indonesian maids to hold their own passports and granting a weekly day of rest, but negotiations halted on a minimum wage (HRW 2010). This impasse, as aforementioned, is owing to the opposition by the Malaysian public. One such rebuttal made against the minimum wage are the subpar quality of Indonesian maids and that it should be the same as the ones who are sent to the Singaporean market, which means they should have a higher education level. Other reasons for resistance to the proposed

Ahmat 13 MYR600 to MYR800 for minimum wage include the high maid processing fee and government levy; and the fact that some lower-rung workers in both the government and private sector are receiving less than MYR600 and MYR800 which indicates the publics conviction that Indonesian maids cannot earn more than Malaysians in their country (Star, Sept. 9, 2009). The underlying message herein is that Indonesian maids qualify as the quintessential Other seen through the refracted lenses of nationality and class who do not deserve the same treatment as citizens (Yeoh et. al. 1999, 124). More often than not, public discourse on Indonesian maids is shaped by the fear of the Other, given that these Indonesian maids positions as aliens as and as third world women bring conflated meanings and impact. Crimes, health hazard, moral decadence and the fact of illegal immigration discussed before emerge as opportunities for the Malaysian public to express Indonesian immigrants as the Other who deserve no public sympathy. Malaysian employers come to a conflict of interests as they need Indonesian maids but do not want them because of their suspicion and contempt for Indonesian immigrants as whole. Regrettably, they solve this conflict by making Indonesian maids as targets of Othering and objects of mistreatment; thus defining the Indonesian maid experience in Malaysia. It is important to see that at the heart of this Othering of the Indonesian immigrants by the Malaysian public is the self-definition of priorities and privileges of being Malaysian that precisely arises. Malaysian sociologist Farish Noor identifies this situation as she juxtaposes the Indonesian maid experience to a different Malaysian position: One would be hard pressed to imagine a Malaysian employer who would dare to beat up his or her domestic help or laborers with sticks or stones if this happened to be Malaysian citizens who enjoyed the same political and legal rights (Williamson 2002, 415). This self-differentiation occurs promptly because of

Ahmat 14 the cultural proximity between Malaysians and Indonesians, especially Malays. So to speak, Malaysian employers feel the need to set themselves apart from their Indonesian counterpart to define the privilege and power they have as a Malaysian apropos the negative public image affiliated to Indonesian immigrants in general. Essentially, we are dealing here with the violation of human rights of Indonesian maids. However, a cross review of the Malaysian news coverage regarding the issue of minimum wage that has arisen since the moratorium was launched indicates the lagging of human rights in Malaysia. Articles upon articles lack the use of human rights language, failing to substantiate that Indonesian maids have the right to be treated as an equal and be given dignity by their employers. Most news material in the recent year were on physical abuse or concentrated on the feasibility of imposing a minimum wage, but not so much on the general ill-treatment and psychological abuse that strips the dignity off of the maids in question. The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia or SUHAKAM was established just a decade ago in April 2000 and this should point to the infancy of human rights in Malaysia (Suhakam). True enough, a survey in 2006 that signaled students and educators alike are not so aware of human rights as a high 73% of correspondents have never heard of SUHAKAM (Star April 23, 2006). This deficiency of human rights education sets forth the unfortunate cycle of Malaysian citizens who are ignorant of human rights and become proprietors of the violation of the basic rights of Indonesian maids. Alas, it is easier for us to comprehend why there is slow impetus in recognizing the labor rights of Indonesian maids and the plan of incorporating the group into any functional labor law and outside of the MoA with the Indonesian government. In this kind of setup, it is no wonder that major international advocacy groups are the only vocal parties in urging for the end of the injustice, inequity and indignity towards

Ahmat 15 Indonesian maids. By way of illustration, Human Rights Watch has released four statements concerning the plight of domestic workers in Malaysia since last year alone. Specifically, the organization have taken a firm stance against the wage exploitation of these Indonesian maids and concur that the amount of hours Indonesian maids work, sometimes up to 18 hours a day, seven days a week, is incommensurate with their monthly wages of MYR400 to MYR600 (USD118-177). As claimed by Nisha Varia, senior women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, the organizations chief concern is the strikingly discriminatory [practice] when domestic workers from other countries automatically receive higher wages" (HRW 2010). On a final note, if any campaign to stop human rights violation of Indonesian domestic workers were to be progressive, it would have to first target to create awareness about human rights among the Malaysian public and then making them understand the human rights perspective in every aspect of their relationship with their foreign maids. Accordingly, the Indonesian maid experience can also be improved if the Malaysian-ness I have tried to explain throughout the paper does not cloud the way Malaysians regard their Indonesian counterparts, especially the Indonesian maids who slave for them. In World Poverty and Human Rights, Thomas Pogge defines lofty nationalism as the condition in which citizens and governments may show more concern for the justice of their own state and for injustices suffered by its members than for the justice of any other social systems and for injustices suffered by foreigners and ultimately denounces its use when thinking about human rights (Pogge 2008, 125). In a way, we can extend the concept of lofty nationalism to our discussion and see that there is no basis of nationalism that could justify any injustices towards immigrant workers in pretense of serving the locals first. With all due respect, Indonesian maids who migrate to Malaysia for honest work should

Ahmat 16 be seen as fellow humans entitled first, to basic human rights and acknowledgement as equals, even if they are unwelcomed inhabitants of the country. After all, it is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Carson ed. 2005, 5)

Works Cited Carson, Leslie, ed. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). 25+ Human Rights Documents. New York: Columbia University, 2005. Chin, Christine B. N. Walls of Silence and Late Twentieth Century Representations of the Foreign Female Domestic Worker: The Case of Filipina and Indonesian Female Servants in Malaysia. International Migration Review 31, no. 2 (1997), http://www.jstor.org/ stable/2547224 (accessed May 23, 2010). Huang, Shirlena, and Brenda S. A. Yeoh. Ties That Bind: State Policy and Migrant Female Domestic Helpers in Singapore. Geoforum 27, no. 4 (1996), http://www.sciencedirect. com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V68-3VWC3S4 (accessed May 23, 2010). Human Rights Watch (2008). UPR Submission: Malaysia. (2008), http://www.forum-asia.org /news/2008/HRW-Malaysia%20UPR%202008.pdf (accessed May 23, 2010). Human Rights Watch (2010). Indonesia/Malaysia: End Wage Exploitation of Domestic Workers. May 10, 2010, http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/05/10/indonesiamalaysia -end-wage-exploitation-domestic-workers (accessed May 27, 2010). Immigration Department of Malaysia. Foreign Maid Application Checklist Form. http://www. imi.gov.my/index.php/en/download/forms/

Ahmat 17 Pogge, Thomas. World Poverty and Human Rights. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008 Spaan, Ernst, Tony Naaerssen, and Gerard Kohl. Reimagining Borders: Malay Identity and Indonesian Migrants in Malaysia. Journal of Economic and Social Geography 93, no. 2 (2001), http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118910651/abstractCRETRY =1&SRETRY=0 (accessed May 27, 2010). SUHAKAM. The Official Website of Human Rights Commission of Malaysia. http://www. suhakam.org.my/info/profil;jsessionid=1743C16A60D85612A99F9475CC4D7D85 United Nations Population Division. Trends, Issues and Policies Towards International Labor Migration: An Indonesian Case Study. July 2005. Unspun blog. Serumpun but Different Lingo. http://theunspunblog.com/?s=serumpun Williamson, Thomas. Incorporating Malaysian Identity. Cultural Anthropology 17, no. 3 (2002), http://www.jstor.org.proxy.uchicago.edu/stable/3651564 (accessed June 3, 2010). World Bank. Fact Sheet: Migration, Remittance and Female Migrant Workers. January 2006. Yeoh, Huang, Shirlena Huang, and Joaquin Gonzales III. Migrant Female Domestic Workers: Debating the Economic, Social and Political Impacts in Singapore. International Migration Review 33, no.1 (1999), http://www.jstor.org/stable/2547324 (accessed May 27, 2010).