Indonesia has just imposed a ban on the sending of domestic

maids to Malaysia as a result of several high-profile maid

abuse cases being brought to light recently. These acts of
physical abuse have deeply infuriated the Indonesian nation
and the blame for it falls solely on the shoulders of the
Malaysian authorities.

Annually, about 1,000 foreign maids suffer varying degrees

of physical abuse at the hands of their Malaysian employers.
A handful of them like Nirmala Bonat and Siti Hajar whose
plight received wide media attention, get very badly beaten
and so severely abused inside their employers' homes that
it is now time to review the situation. We cannot tolerate
these horror stories anymore.

The trade in recruiting and placing foreign maids inside the

homes of Malaysian families is a very, very lucrative business.
A lot of individuals have become very rich overnight as a
result of this exporting and importing of human cargo.

Such 'businessmen' who operate in this kind of trade have

no time to think about the welfare of these foreign maids.
As a result, it is so very easy for these maids to become
victim to all sorts of nonsense the moment they signed up
for work as domestic help. Salaries or wages promised are
often not paid in full due to 'deductions' imposed on them
by the agents and employers for various fees and levies.

These domestic helpers/ maids have to work round-the-clock

once they are with their Malaysian employers. There is not
much rest time available to them and no day off either.

Malaysian citizens have become extremely addicted to foreign

labour, so much so that even families who reside in cramped
apartments clamour for them. Just how a family in a 2-bedroom
apartment could still take in a foreign domestic help is one
of the amazing 'miracles' of modern Malaysian life.

These 'miracles' are made possible by the total indifference

shown by the Malaysian government towards the plight of maids
in the country. These maids are little more than slaves who
have to work full time for relatively low wages and have no
claim to any personal privacy, something which is needed by
every human being.

The Malaysian authorities need to change their ways starting

now. The physical abuse heaped on the foreign maids amount
to torture since physical and emotional pain is involved.
Laws must be stiffened to truly punish those who are found
guilty of mistreating their domestic helpers. Any official
or middleman found to have taken bribes & under-the-counter
payments for the hiring of maids must be brought to justice.

The welfare or labour department must pay a visit to the

prospective employer's residence before any request gets
approved. If the future maid has to sleep beside the toilet
because there is no spare room available, then the request
must be turned down straightaway.
Any employer who is found guilty by a court for abusing a
maid MUST be made to surrender his or her driving licence
besides the mandatory fine and jail sentence. The driving
licence must be suspended for between 10 to 50 years.

The government MUST introduce laws to cancel the driving

licences of those who have been convicted of torture or
abuse against their domestic maids. Malaysians treasure
their driving licences very much more than their own lives,
so taking away their licences would be a very good move.
Those who are found guilty must do without their driving
licences for at least ten years upon conviction and sen-
tencing. A woman who is found guilty must lose her licence
for a minimum of ten years. If she has a husband, he MUST
also lose his driving licence for ten years since he is
in fact an accomplice (an accessory to the crime).

Hopefully, it will help end the string of physical abuses

heaped on the foreign maids in the country. Malaysia is
indeed a very, very shameful society for allowing it to
happen in the first place. Very, very, very shameful.
Shame on the Malaysian government. A very big shame !