Sin Chew Daily

Indonesian ambassador Hermono lately made a serious allegation against Malaysian employers, depicting their treatment of Indonesian maids like “modern slaves”, adding that the maids were in much worse conditions here than in Singapore, Hong Kong or Taiwan

Such an allegation is very serious and have to be looked into seriously.

Human resources minister Saravanan Murugan rebutted the allegation. He said he did not deny that indeed some Malaysian employers are not too kind to their maids, but they are only a handful of black sheep, while most employers treat their maids well.

Meanwhile, the Association of Employment Agencies Malaysia (PAPA) president Foo Yong Hooi also said Hermono’s allegation had been unfair.

Indeed, there have been sporadic reports of poor treatment of maids in this country, but the overall situation is not as bad as Hermono has described. That said, the problem is still existent, and is not new at all. The government must do its utmost to protect the safety and rights of foreign maids here.

As a matter of fact, Malaysia has not only been accused of maltreating foreign maids, some of the sectors have also been accused of “forced labour” practices.

Prior to that, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have confiscated the products of several Malaysian glove manufacturers for alleged involvement in “forced labour” activities. Additionally, two Malaysian oil palm companies have also been said to be involved in forced labour practices.

The continued occurrence of such incidents will invariably tarnish the country’s international reputation

In the US government’s Trafficking in Persons Report last year, Malaysia was downgraded to the lowest Tier 3 due to alleged prevalence of forced labour.

To be fair, Malaysia’s condition has not deteriorated to the extent that it needs to practice forced labour, overall speaking. Nevertheless, the authorities need to draw up more comprehensive mechanisms to boost enforcement in a bid to protect the rights of migrant workers.

The government needs to start from the very basic, by simplifying and strengthening the management of migrant worker affairs, and doing away with unnecessary red tape.

Currently migrant worker affairs are managed by multiple departments, and the overall efficiency and management are unsatisfactory, making it hard to effectively protect the rights of the employers as well as foreign workers.

Other than new changes that must be implemented by the authorities, the employers themselves must also conform to the laws and understand and respect the rights of their foreign workers.

The relationship between the employer and employee should be one of win-win situation.

These foreign workers have travelled so far here to work with the hope they can make a little more money to send home. In the meantime, the employers have also benefited from the affordable labour and services provided by migrant workers. Both sides actually benefit from such a process and by right the issue of exploitation should not have happened in the first place.

If foreign manpower supply is disrupted by any unpleasant incident, the employers will also suffer the adverse consequences.

Indonesia threatened last month that if Malaysia failed to promise to assure the safety of maids from that country, it would stop sending any more worker here, including those in plantation and construction sectors.

To be honest, any form of exploitation or maltreatment is inhuman and must be reprimanded. Simply put, the safety and rights of foreign workers must be protected in any civilised society.