Indonesian maids for Muslim employers only

Indonesian maids for Muslim employers only

KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — The government and the relevant agencies in Malaysia have been urged to ensure that Muslim Indonesian maids are placed with Muslim employers only.

Bocehe Dewe Association chairman Ambar Setiowibowo who made the call said this could help end maid abuse since normally the problem relates to differences in language, culture and religion.

“If possible, Muslim maids are placed with Muslim Malay employees. This should take precedence now.

“If this is not possible, a condition should be imposed that the maids are allowed to perform their religious duties like prayers and fasting and are not told to do something that goes against their religious belief,” he told Bernama.

“Bocehe Dewe” in Java means “group for youths only” and it is a social network formed in 2001 to help all Indonesian workers in Malaysia.

Ambar came up with the suggestion after Siti Hajar Sadli, 33, from Garut in West Java was believed to have been abused by her employer since three years ago. She was also said to have been given pork to eat.

Her single mother employer Hau Yuan Tyng has been charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court and pleaded not guilty to causing her grievous hurt.

Presently, the Immigration Department allows foreign Muslim maids to work for non-Muslim employers.

Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (PAPA) president Datuk Raja Zulkepley Dahalan said about 80 per cent of employers of 320,000 legal foreign maids in the country were non-Muslims.

Most foreign maids came from Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Thailand with a small number coming from China.

From the total, 270,000 are Indonesians and most of them are Muslims.

Raja Zulkepley said this explains why most abuse cases reported involved non-Muslim employers bent on recruiting maids individually or using illegal employment agencies.

“Most of the Indonesian maid abuse cases, especially those involving the Muslims, started from communication breakdown resulting from language, culture and religion differences,” he said.

Raja Zulkepley said there were also cases where maids were forced to do something else like washing the car and looking after the shop.

“PAPA’s suggestion is for more maids from China to be brought in to solve the different religion and culture problem. With this, food, language and religion issues will not arise again,” he said, adding that the agencies have the capability in handling the recruitment of maids from China if allowed by the government.

PAPA also calls for a ban on individual recruitment of foreign maids because it believes that this is the source of the abuse problem.

Presently, foreign maids can be brought in by agencies registered with the Manpower Department and the Immigration Department, and individually by the employers.

According to PAPA estimates, however, there are 150,000 illegal foreign maids including those brought in by illegal employment agencies.

The Bocehe Dewe Association agreed that the activities of illegal maid agencies in both Malaysia and Indonesia should be stopped.

“In my opinion, the preliminary step should start in Indonesia, to check these illegal agencies. The management of Indonesian manpower should be made through legal means with sufficient training and all,” said Ambar.

He said both governments could also sign a memorandum of understanding to allow employment agencies to visit their maids on regular basis to monitor their condition directly.

“It all depends on the governments of the two countries. Where there is a will there is a way. The solution is there,” he said. – Bernama