On maids

A good measure of how civilized a nation is in the treatment of fellow human beings. The ongoing debate on the treatment and wages of Indonesian maids puts shame on our people.

It seems that what we want are slaves; to be paid as little as possible, and doing as much as possible. We denigrate our domestic help, criticizing their every move, but when enough is enough and they decide to leave we say we can’t live without them. We expect them to do everything, yet we pay them pittance wages, which we know are degrading to their very existence.

A family man with two young daughters once told me with satisfaction on what happened after he complained about his maid’s alleged incompetence. The maid was 16 years old, from a small Indonesian town far from the city. He told of how the agent beat and tortured her for 3 days before returning her; in a state of numb obedience.

I know of many people who intend to not comply with any ruling requiring maids to be given a day off. There are also those who feel that for RM 800 a month, they would expect their maids to feed themselves. These are the same people who can’t keep the same maid for more than 6 months without them running away or being ‘exchanged’ for a new maid.

However, the fact that these maids are willing to work for the RM600 they currently receive shows how few opportunities there are back home. For the authorities to raise the minimum wage would reduce work opportunities here as people stop taking in maids. This would punish prospective maids far more than the ill-treatment many of them have experienced while working in Malaysia.

What should happen is tightening of rules in regards to the treatment of maids and proper enforcement of them. Agencies should be properly regulated and the rights of maids should take greater precedence.

On a greater scale, we should begin putting perspective on how we treat foreigners in this country. The apartment where I live recently introduced a rule barring foreigners, mostly factory workers, from using the amenities, including swimming pools, playgrounds and gyms, despite the fact that they pay the same maintenance fees. On the other hand, we seem to be extraordinarily hospitable to foreigners of certain origins and wealth.

Xenophobia is rampant and selective racism seems to be the accepted order. It smacks of rotten values and a disrespect of human dignity. And it marks where we are as a self-described modern nation.