Jun 202009
I was shocked when I read that a recent SMS poll conducted by The Star revealed that 76 per cent of 769 respondents were against the idea of allowing domestic workers (maids) a day off every week.
Let’s see if you are any different from the readers of The Star. Hopefully, we can get a similar number of respondents here and then we can compare the results…
Should domestic workers be given a day off every week?
- Yes (55%, 427 Votes)
- No (41%, 319 Votes)
- Don't know (4%, 30 Votes)
Total Voters: 775
New blog post: Should domestic workers be given a day off every week? http://bit.ly/qIszw
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Poll: Weekly day off for domestic workers?: A recent SMS poll conducted by The Star showed that 76 per cent of 7.. http://tinyurl.com/lrg7f4
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Poll: Weekly day off for domestic workers? – http://tinyurl.com/lrg7f4
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Why are there Malaysians who are so inhuman? They should themselves be treated like slave labour for a day and see how they can survive! I tred it and it taught me a very painful lesson – never underestimate our just God (thank Christ for this!) and to really empathize with less fortunate human beings. And when I forgot this, God made me keep on learning such painful lesson. Anyway, disgusting that such a poll should even be conducted when the law to promote justice and universal human rights, should have just been passed! So, we should listen to these selfish and greedy ‘monsters’ before we make a just law is it! I’m going to send this article globally, o the rest of the world knows how selfish and greedy many Malaysians are!
Katharina Sri (former: Noor Aza Othman)
Germany
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Weekly day off is a very humane treatment for a follow human being. The reason for not allow the maid a day off are usually about the negative influence they have once they mixed with the others.
There are a lot of Indonesian Guy out there trying to sweet talk them into giving money and sex. When they are lonely working in Malaysia, any word and too sweet to resist
Shiok Guy
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
but the heartening thing is, the majority responses in mkini and malaysian insider to the the poll (even facebook) showed there are many human people who condemn this attitude as modern-day slavery.
just makes you wonder about star readers ;p
actually, i have it on good authority that one of the top editors chewed reporters for suggesting stories about migrant/poor people. words to this effect: “think of our readers (read: middle class). they won’t be interested in reading about these people.”
honestly, who reads star these days (though i conceded that the furniture ads are great).
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
correction: “humane” people.
but maybe i’m right the first time. those who would treat another human being as a slave must not be human. how can you do that to your own species, when yours is supposedly a being of the highest intelligence?
sometimes, i wonder whether dolphins and whales should have been given opposable thumbs.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
If one is employed overseas…away from all the loved ones and working almost 12 hours a day, surely a day off in a week is not asking to much. Those who question their employees’ entitlement are simply, selfish individuals who like to squeeze out evey drop of their money spent…indecent and uncaring human beings!
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Even God takes a day off in a week (…then calamities strike). Common guys they are none but our human siblings. Lets humble ourselves, after we ain’t gonna live forever. Lets each of them enjoy a free moment of their own.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
No issue with having the day off, but I do not agree with the maid going out on her own or with friends on the day-off.
Who is goin to be responsible for the increased number of divorces or increased number of marriages among the Malaysian males? There are numerous examples of married men going crazy over other people’s maids.
In addition, there are smooth talking pimps out there who will seduce these girls with higher income potential?
Then there r smooth talkers out there who will convince these girls that they really love them. Then ask the girls to allow them into the house at night whilst everyone is asleep.
Katharina, it is easy to offer to help to remove that speck of dirt from my eye, but doesnt the block of wood in front of ur face impair u?
In reality, we have a horrible system in Malaysia. We need maids 7 days a week. Not necessarily to cook, but to be home for the kids in their parent’s absence. Why are the parents not at home? Golf – maybe, work-maybe.
Anil, since u r a man of leisure, u can stand on ur high horse and state that people like me who rather have his maid be at home at all times, rather than be allowed the freedom of goin out at anytime or having a day off a week. But do have some pity on mere humans like us, who have to work to make ends meet.
A man of leisure? haha good one, Bob… I work my socks off, if you have to know.
So you are saying that it’s only the female foreign domestic workers who need such “protection” by being confined indoors, but local women are safe venturing outdoors?
- Anil
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I do everything on my own now, of course with some help from my children. I used to have maids one after another. I treat them very well; nice room to sleep in, eat whatever my family eat, watch TV in the afternoon with the kids, taking the young ones to the playground every afternoon, never failed paying their salary every month, help to send money to their family at home, never shout at them, once in a while tell them what’s right and wrong and finally give then a free Sunday which they look forward to. The same problem I had after a while they’ll give thousand excuses that they no longer want to work for me. The last one who worked for me for four months, later gave me an excuse that she wanted to return home because her family needed her there. She left before I could make any proper arrangement for her return. Later I heard that she actually ran away with her lover whom she met at a rumah kongsi every Sunday! Another maid I used to have was a pros… every Sunday.But not all of them are bad. I had another one who worked for me for four years, enjoyed a Sunday out to the pasar malam, met friends…anyway… finally I had to throw her out due to a misunderstanding, she also developed a relationship with a man (during the outings) and got married! So, with seven kids still living with me I rather do everything on my own.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Ask yourself if there are housewives out there having a day break in a week.
Plenty of time to rest whenever the maids have nothing to do in the whole week. So why the maids need a day off??? Go shopping???
Can u imagine a day without someone doing home chores? <— That’s the reason the maids are hired, else no one would have hire them.
Imagine if they are hired to take care of an elderly. A day off?????????? ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Hey Shiok Guy, Bob & Fadzillah,
So just because the WORKER (yes, that’s what a ‘maid’ is about – not slaves – they should be called Domestic Worker instead!)take a day off, so you have a right to control their private lives! Excuse me, they are adults who are responsible for themselves – you think you owned them every single minute! This is no more Dark-Age – there is such a precious thing as UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, that include the human rights of individuals to have dignity, equality and freedom! One off day for freedom and you try to justify such denial of such basic human rights! Imagine if you’re treated in such a way, like slaves or animals – how would you feel? God is just, remember that – injustice will always be punished, if not now, later on!
Katharina Sri (former: Noor Aza Othman)
Germany.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Katharina,
I think that you’re being unfair for being judgemental now that you’re living in a developed nation. Majority of Malaysians ie middle class and below, are barely making ends meet especially the lower income group. Consider the facts below :-
1) out of 10.5million workers only 1.2million are paying taxes ie earning at least RM3,000.
2) a taxi driver in Germany can afford to go overseas for holiday, can a local taxi do the same
3) purchasing power of German vs Malaysian (cars, house,…)
4) because of structural problem ie we’re low cost base, our salary never kept with inflation and hence, both parents have to work to make ends meet (most barely). As a result, they need to hire a maid. Most people wouldn’t like to have a maid if they can help it because it also intrudes on their privacy.
5) I take Fadzillah’s point because of our reliance of low labour cost and hence, the social problems that we’re facing are the result of the influx of uncontrolled foreign labourers.
The only solution is to wean off foreign labourers. How ?
a) Have a minimum wage for local worker and import high levy to match the local worker. From the levy, retrain the local workers so that the local workers can move up the value chain and improve on productivity. This will encourage the employers to engage local workers.
b) improve on the education system so that the school leavers and graduates are employable
With higher cost base, all these symptoms will eventually go away.
dua sen
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I can’t stand employers working their maid 21 hours a day with 3 hours of sleep. Can’t stand them using the maid to wash their bloody car every morning as if the car is cancerous ( or they are cancerous to the car??). Can’t stand them blaming the maid for their brats misbehaved. Can’t stand them putting their feet lazily on the table and scolding their maids for not fast enough to fetch their coffee fix after dinner. Can’t stand them for asking the maid to eat their brats’ leftover.! Bloody employers!
But, I also can’t stand those maids who are treated well, put on kilos of fats and received money in exchanged for their day-offs to put up a pity face as if their day-offs being robbed by their employers!
There are both sides of the story. We have good employers and good maids, and we have bad ones too on both sides. Just because of an off-day, it’s unfair to say that employers are inhuman. It’s totally irrelevant. Inhuman are those who abused their maids physically, and maids who abused the little ones while the parents are working.
At the end of the day, who’s wrong??!?
When an employer employ a maid, oftenly said, ” We treat you as our family member, and I hope you’ll treat our kids or old folks as your family members. How often do we really mean that? And the maid thinks.” Since they treat me as a family member, I’ll be one then! They take it easy with me around, and I’ll take it easy whey they are around!”
Who’s fault?? I don’t have the answer for that. It’s all about humans, anyway. We are our greatest enemy.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Seeing the results of these polls (the star and here), my only hope is that countries exporting domestic workers (or any workers for that matter) to malaysia will stop doing so! Maybe then, we will learn to show respect and appreciation to these workers. It’s about time we learn that everyone has to be treated fairly and humanely.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
i feel a day off is alright but there has been cases of maid coordinating other crime with outsiders to rob or kidnapping.
A day off does not mean your maid has to go out,it can just be as usual as staying at home and not doing any chores.
But there were already bad employers who even open on sunday and use the maid for house chores and their business. There’s no workers union to hear their plights, after all the indon govt is the one who should be blame for not listening to their voice since many years ago.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
i also find a lot of sick b******* who felt that the maid don’t need a day off… even yourself will find excuses for being late to work and get medical leave which is popular among malaysians.
So , if it’s alright to work without a day off, than y don’t we just work on full saturday and sunday too. easy to say it!
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I regret to say from personal experience that most Malaysians have no sense of employment rights or fairness when it comes to equitable treatment of human beings called “domestics/maids”.
I have seen many poor Indonesian maids being made to slave away like worthless serfs to earn a paltry, measley wage of RM350/400 a month for being available/on call for domestic duties 24hours a day, 7days a week.
And what got me most was that, on top of that expected servility from these poor people, it was really a case of the luck of the draw for most of them for they appear to be paid exactly the same wages whether they slave to keep tidy a three, seven or more bedroomed house or if they had to take care of three or twenty people and their pets in their work-places.
Such inhumanity/heartlessness must be put to an end, full stop. It is unffair, unjust and degrading to oneself to treat fellow human beings in that manner.
My view is that it only happens because many Malaysians nowadays have gotten to be too arrogant because of their new found cheap money and so-called status and the too cheap labour offered by these very poor maids who come to work in Malaysia to find some earned income to take care of their families back in their home country.
I have seen some Malaysians even leave their newborn babies in the care of these maids (who act as surrogate parents to the young ones but some of whom are sometimes too young to know anything about looking after babies)instead of finding the necessary time as responsible parents to take care of these babies themselves.
Why does anyone want to bother to have a baby when neither the father nor the mother appears to have any time to spend with and take care of it, even in those first few critical years when it is learning to bond with its parents and needs them around it?
Apparently, it seems to me that the cheapened values of leisure and money at call and having it all has become the be all and end all mantra for a whole lot of Malaysians today. Good luck!
“Imagine Power To The People” John Lennon.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Without having just a day off from work in a week is modern slavery. It doesn’t matter whatever reasons you may give. As for housewives your role in the family is vastly different from that of a maid. For those who mentioned ‘struggling to make ends meet’ – I don’t see how you can afford to enjoy the luxuries of modern slavery.
A day off for the maids does not necessary mean she must go outdoors. I would say it merely means the employers taking on her role just for a day. It is not necessary to be on a weekend…but at least once a week. This is only human.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
….and for Sitiawan 8:25….you mean you can’t even take care of your elderly just for a day in a week ???? What is this world coming to !! The ‘elderly’ doesn’t seem to have a maid when they took care of you ‘in those days’. And you seem to have problems washing your own plates for a day in a week ! Looking at the increasing numbers of maids being abused I must really agree with the Indonesian government to stop sending them over. Say whatever you like, but I am only human.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Katharina Sri,
You are not adding credibility to ‘maid’s day off’
Obviously you have not idea about the current situation in Bolehland.
You have no idea that it cost 2-3 months average salary to hire an Indon Maid, non refundable & no guarantee.
My past 2 maids are not Adults! They were just 16 yrs old!
I had to train them, both education(English)& house chores, and be a parent to them also! All their cloths, shoes and hygiene accessories are paid for by me and not deducted a all from their salary. They also get angpows, Xmas gifts and also enjoy paid yearly holiday trip oversea with my family.
How many companies does that for their workers?
They are lot better off than my children cos I do NOT rottan them, at worst I only scold them.
Thank God, they were honest, hardworking and obedient.
Thanks God they did not end up in a brothel in Batam or in soundproofed torture room in Stephanskirchen, near Rosenheim in southern Germany!
After 4 yrs I didn’t renew their contract even though they wanted to. Till today they still call/sent sms during CNY, Christmas, kids b’day and I reciprocate as well.
One is now in Malacca as a Chief Clerk in MNI, married with 2 kids, other is a Secretary [able to read and write in English] for Export Co. in Surabaya.
As a working parent I too, am a ‘slave’ to my family and household, so where is my dignity, equality and freedom?
Where is my ‘off day’?
BTW If you have not been in formed, Germany also do not have a good track record on domesticas – especially Polish or Chech women.
Does that meant Germany is still in the Dark-Age?
—–
So you are saying that it’s only the female foreign domestic workers who need such “protection” by being confined indoors, but local women are safe venturing outdoors?- Anil
Dear Anil,
Ever wonder why ‘Gated community’/'Guarded Flats/Apartment’ are getting popular or needed?
Well, local women are still free to venture out of these gated communities anytime – and not only on their off days. – Anil
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
In the first place, taking a human being away from their young children and placing them in a foreign land to look after the luxurious needs of other people’s children while their own flesh and blood is without care at home — isn’t this already an unnatural thing to do? Doesn’t this not breed psychotic “maids”?
Can a day off to go jalan jalan make for a happier “maid”? I am not sure. If it is a day spent to observe less fortunate situations then their own, perhaps so. But if it is a day out window shopping fueled by other equally discontented lot — I think they will only come home with the very human greed — more angry, more discontented, more jealous, more psychotic then ever before. Or they could come home temporarily lulled off their pain by some sweet talker. Not clever at all, no?
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Oops I forgot, here is something to ponder about maids…
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_360945.html
For those guys who abhor modern-slavery, please a hard look at your local hypermart, hawker stalls, restaurant, 24hrs convienet stores, local garbage and road cleaning services. Please ask these migrant workers about their wages and living conditions.
Yes, bad conditions indeed, all around. We need to drastically improve the working conditions of all migrant workers – and ensure they enjoy equal rights as Malaysian workers. – Anil
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
A day off is a must for everybody but it should be in the House not to roam around.The responsibility to take care for childrens,elderly and the property are in Danger when they met someone that can influnce her.I believe that every maid knows the in and out of your Family after 1 or 2 months in your house.We are always in Danger when we invite someone into our House cause you can’t afford to make a single mistake within the times that person is under your contract.Dare to imposed this Law and see how many problems especially housebreaking and strange and shocking police reports.Tell me how the police is to trace the maid,if they change their name when they are back home(Indonesia).Even today,I believe there are a lot of runaway cases,checking on the maid coditions is a must and I believe it will help both parties to solve problems.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0