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
Katharina, Malaysians are no more inhumane than any other race in any other country. As far as this “maid” issue is concerned it is not as straight forward as you imagine it to be.
I can assure you that of the high percentage who say no to day-off for the “maid”, many are in fact very good employers who care for their families’ welfare — and consequently their maid’s welfare. Frankly, these employers haven’t got a choice but to take care of these “maids” with kids glove — what is a day off when required? Their children and their aged parents are being “held ransom” to put it bluntly. Is there more to say?
I believe that making a MANDATORY day off is going to compound to an already problematic social issue in developing countries. First there has to be in place a good supportive system/facilities for these “maids” before we send them all out during their days off. And as a poor working race ourselves with of course leaders who are fat around the waste (some say it is lipid some say it is gold), we are a long way from that.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Hello, I think we should go a step further and give the domestic workers a CHOICE to choose 1) whether they would want a day off and 2) which day they want off.
I think they should definitely be given a day off (robot meh, machine work so long and hard oso cepat rosak lah, apa lagi human beings)…But I think those who offer to work on their day off (perhaps to help their employer in shop/look after their kids etc) should be compensated. Similar to how normal employees get compensation for working on weekends (takkan we M’sians wanna be accused of applying double standards to domestic workers?)…
And I think not all of them would want a day off on Sundays, some would prefer a week day, so the system should be flexible lah…to allow them to negotiate with their employer…
But we do need to be mindful that there will always exist a power differential between the domestic workers and their employers. Obviously, even if our laws grant them a day off, if their employers *force* them to work 7 days a week (I bet there will be employers like that), most domestic workers wouldn’t dare to report/complain their employers because they would risk losing their jobs…
So yeah, it goes back to educating the employers that their employees (domestic workers) are humans too and should be treated with respect!
Btw (I’m sure Anil you are already aware of this but seems like not all of your readers are), there are male domestic workers in Malaysia, though female may be the majority…And not all domestic workers are foreigners, some are local (my own boss hire locals), so these amendments would help M’sian domestic workers too people…
P/s: I’m also not sure why some people think female foreign domestic workers are stupid/low-level intelligence human beings who could be easily seduced by men (local or foreign)…Or of the opposite, why they assume men could be easily seduced by women domestic workers (so now they’re intelligent beings capable of seducing!)…It’s an insult to both men and women’s intelligence and self-control really…
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
By all means allow the maids to have a ‘rest’ day but not to roam out of the house. It is a well-known fact that maids are wooed by indon workers from outside the fence when the employer was not around. We had heard many maids got pregnant and dumping the new-born.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
No doubt there are good and bad maids.
There are also good and bad employers.
Looks like everyone only talking about good maids and bad employers.
Find some stories about maid abusing the children of their employer, stealing stuff and etc anything bad to do with maids.
The Penquin you are barking at the wrong tree. Open your eyes wider. Not giving a day off doesn’t mean it’s inhumane. As i said they have plenty of time to rest whenever they are free. Most of the employers doesn’t ill-treat their maid(s).
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
the maid can have the right to choose to have one day off or be paid double for the holiday. Some of these cruel employers are looking for cheapest mean or excuses for not giving a day off to the maid by saying how poor they are , this and that…
Jeezz… if you are poor , pls don’t hire maid and god didn’t ask you to be stupid in the first place for having so many children.
If you can’t give a maid day off than pay for it. Im sure this sick cruel malaysian will have an excuses for paying extra too. the poll itself have indicates malaysian are very low and deserve to be in the top list in the recent human trafficking problems.
This is not coincidence to the report release by USA. this is facts and sheets reported by the human rights group. Our arrogance and ego got to stop , the insanity got to be treated or we will be punish one day.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
RachelJanz, so you tried to justify your abuses by claiming you were good to those teenage domestic workers (you don’t hit them, only scold them – so it’s ok?!) despite that you’re not supposed to hire child-labour! Provide your proof that domestic workers in Germany are abused – because if they do, believe me, those employers will go to JAIL; and pay compensation besides. In Ireland, there is even a trade union of domestic workers!And domestic workers only work 8 hours like normal workers.
So, you’re the master of this slave child-labour but you’re equal to them is it?! By the way, does your husband get a day off work – imagine if he didn’t?! Him, you & the children would go berserk wouldn’t he? What don’t you get; “Maid’ are Workers – not slaves or animals! And I’m glad you brought in the stuff about other migrant workers – of course they are treated like animals or slaves too by many equally SELFISH Malaysians, especially construction workers – even forced to work in the hot sun until night-time, have to sleep in the constructed buildings or shacks, or where many lost their lives due to not being provided with safety equipment!
And to all, who thinks they OWN their ‘maids’ including trying to control their private lives after work (I supposed your bosses at work can order you not to have boyfriends for example, in your private lives?) and if given a day off, whatever is unjust will come back to you – or your generation! If not now, later as God is always just (thank dear Christ!). Further, don’t speak lies about you being “not rich”, but could still hire a domestic worker! And this shows that many Malaysian’s mentality are still primitive uncivilized – despite them posessing ‘degrees’! They will even deceitfully lie through their teeth to justify their CRIME of treating another human being like slaves or animals, just because these unfortunate beings are poor and considered beneath their class!
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
ha ha Sitiawan…i am no dog…i don’t bark..as for the tree i think the dogs will just pee beside it…Yes you may be right that most employers treat their maids well but when you pay them for work done they are workers and why can’t they have a day off ? Sometimes they have to wake up early to work and ends quite late in the night…not 5 or 6pm. The other day i was having lunch at one of the cafes and overheard two two teenagers’ conversation as they were talking a bit loud. One of them even mentioned that his maid massages for him ! There must be more than 1001 ways to use a maid !
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
where did this sense of ‘entitlement’ to another human being’s time, that one has the right to decide how another should be living (or not, apparently, in this case) come from?
i believe it’s from the failing state that malaysia is turning out to be. all the problems cited by those opposing the proposal stem from the failure of the government to keep inflation in check, to promote gender neutrality (how about husbands helping with the housework, and forget about blaming their lack of control for divorces arising from affairs!), to have fair laws for workers so that locals would take up the profession and take pride in it, etc.
this desire to control another human being is symptomatic of the repression under the mahathir regime, but perhaps a better example is lee kuang yew’s iron-clad rule of singapore.
i just caught five arts centre’s play “cuckoo birds”. a whole range of issues troubling malaysia portrayed there, one of which is how we treat our foreign domestic workers.
perhaps people who think they have the right to control their employees’ time 24/7 will terasa the ugly malaysian depicted there.
“i am the government,” said the woman employer.
that explains everything.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
another gov’t failure – our poor record of human and democratic rights.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
We once laugh at Singaporean for being a kiasu . As far i am concern , most malaysian were now behaving like that already. I couldn’t bear those housewives who kept shouting at the maid the whole day and i dare to reveal that some of housewife will haunt the maid till they are cornered. first thing in their mind when something lost is to blame the maid. Most of them are woman and usually men are more patient . Majority of the woman have will look for cat fight and inner suspicion when managing the same gender .
Authorities should really form a trade union to protect this workers . One thing i am sure is this, when the maid wish to return , these malaysian only care of their money. This is the time when they don’t allow them to go back, they promise them gold and future . After she signed the new contract, the trap is set and the torture begins.
By the way, this is not happening only by Indonesian Maid. Chinese immigrants who works here also the same thing. They work for 7 days and their passport were compounded by the employer for safekeeping, afraid they will run away. They have no choice but to work like slave in Malaysia. Most of the men who visited massage center will know this. sometimes we feel pity for these new kind of slavery.
Cruel Malaysian.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Kathar,
Employers don’t know the exact age of the maids. All these infos about their age are done in their countries. Whether you like it or not, we are sort of ‘cheated’ by them.It’s up to their countries’ agents to declare the age they deem appropriate to enter to that particular country’s requirement. It their passport says, they are 24 yrs old and in actual, they are only 16 yrs old, is it out fault? Employers innocently believe the infos in their passport. (I employed my maid because her portfolio says she’s 24 yrs old but, a day later she told me that she’s only 21 because her Indon agent advised her to change her age.) Thank God, she’s very honest with me and I closed one eye, afterall she’s not underaged.
Those who believe giving days-off or rest day to their maid, but not roaming outside the house.., you might as well not giving at all. How do you like your boss confine your off-day in the office? Yea, sure..you are not going to do work in that empty office but can you take it? You are lucky that your boss won’t turn up in the office during your day-off. But your maid is not lucky being confined in your house with you, spouse, ah ma, ah pa, and brats so conviniently asking her to do things, just because kakak is around anyway.
How can you even ask her to take her day-off during weekday? Meet who?? The off-day is for them to relax and catch up with their countrymates. Why don’t you work on the weekends and have your day-off on weekdays where your family and friends are in school or at work? Might as well, admit that you are not willing to give the off-day in the first place, dude.
The problem lies in miscommunication. THE AGENT! You can jolly well tell the agent what are your expectations, and vice-versa for the maid. But what the agent going to deliver out from their mouth to the maid is totally a different scenerios. And the employers thought that they will get what they want but eventually after a few weeks into the employment, both of them felt being shortchanged.
Do not bring your new maid home before clarifying your conditions to your new maid infront of the agent. Let the maid know how their agent negotiated their deals with the employers. I’ve never encounter problems at all with my maids. I asked if they understood my expectations and if my expectations were ever explained to them by their agents. All my maids never asked for days-off because I need them during the weekends. However, I pay them extra in exchanged for their days-off. They chose to take it,and must abide to it. If they don’t, it’s okay. They are allowed and given a choice not to work with me. All these are done infront of the agent to prevent agents shortchanging them or the maid thinking that Im going to shortchange them later in their employment.I believe in giving and respecting people choices.I don’t like taking a stranger back home without her understanding her responsibilities. I don’t want troubles sending them away later. And I rather use my time fussing over my child than a maid.
Sure they need their day-off. But we have to be fair also to those families who needs their maid around during the weekends. We can’t expect them to point out their personal problems for all to read.
All in all, employers should pay extra $$$ in exchanged for the maids’ day off. At the end, it’s up to the maid to take the offers. Take it or leave it. Employers should also learn to be understanding if their maid refuses your $$$. No hard feelings, we all have different needs.
Not giving maid a day off in not inhuman lah. But not paying extra in exchange for her day off it is.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Jeff, I think basically Malaysian women are not quite sexually fulfilled and that’s the reason they lash out at their maids.
Either that or it’s period time. Whenever I meet an obnoxious woman, I enquire whether they’re getting enough or it’s that time of month.
The publicised cases have all involved women, so don’t say I’m sexist. I once saw a black eyed maid and the proprietress seemed like a nice lady.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Some in the US have used smart-alec rationalisations and euphemistic semantics to argue that the technique called waterboarding used during the interrogation of prisoners should not be considered by others as being a method of “torture” as it was only an “enhanced/professional interrogation technique”.
Yeah right.
The short answer to such opportunistic, hypocritical, asinine inhuman shite from such twisted minds or pointless, depraved intelligence is that “okey dokey, let’s see what you say about waterboarding not being a method of torture after you have been subjected to a nice, warm dose of it yourself for, say, twenty minutes a go”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding
So to those arguing here that it is okay to treat a domestic worker as nothing more than a beast of burden/indentured slave and expect them to work for you like an owned animal/chattel in a master-servant relationship (instead of an employment contract of service)without even a day off in a week for them to rest, relax and recuperate and enjoy some personal freedom and space, my response to you is let’s see what you have to say about it after you have been subjected to the same treatment as a domestic servant/serf for say, a month? Oh, and yes, that’s definitely without any rights to those public holidays and also to those… er…far too common and much too easily obtainable MCs from those seemingly eager to dispense them too company/other MDs.
Caveat:
Those who generally consider themselves, either through personal choice, habit or upbringing, to be mere doormats for others (such as their spouses/children/parents/in-laws/etc.) are of course excluded from the above walk-in-my-domestic-worker-shoes test.
“Imagine Power To The People” John Lennon.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Malaysians in general are inhuman and cruel. Look at the way treated the maids. Look at the way they treated the dogs in Pulau Ketam.
I fully agree with the Indonesian govt to stop sending maids to Malaysia. Malaysians must learn to pick up their own garbage.
Now is the time to do this.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Come to think of it, it’s not just maids who get abused. Husbands get it as well.
Beware the Amazon.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
We have a saying. Beware of Penang women.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Andrew, what is the matter with you?
Semalam, tidur tak nyenyak ka?
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Yes i agree with you andrew, well at least Singaporean Tai Tai know how to de stress themselves by going to the Toy Boys . So is malaysian men really bored in bed that this ricochet happen to the maid?
This is a long study now. Women in Malaysia lack of sex knowledge ???
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Could be, Suzy. I had a horrible nightmare last night in which I was the new maid for a maid abuser who won her appeal against her conviction and she was chasing after me with a super hot iron because I called her Wonderwoman.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Bob,
You must have been very unloved as a child to grow up to be a person of such low character.
Good luck. You sound like you need it.
I almost puked out my cafe latte I read you describing Anil as a man of leisure.
Low character and ignorant too. Killer combination mate.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
If we allowed the maid to be off for a day. There is a chance she’ll leave the job. Also, she’ll interact with strangers. There is a chance which the stranger might try to obtain informations about the employers.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
continue previous comment …
With the strangers obtain information about the employers from the maid, there is a chance they’ll rob my place. Why do I believe that? My friend’s house were rob by the maid, and another friend’s maid left the house with the strangers. Thus, can you gurantee my family safety.
Complain about this comment
Like or Dislike:
0 
0