INDOMAIDS ARE WORKERS TOO!

JUST when it looked like the deadlock on the Indonesian maid supply was going to be broken, an Indonesian maid dies, allegedly killed. The ink on the memorandum of understanding signed just a couple of weeks earlier between the Malaysian and Indonesian governments regarding maid welfare seemed hardly to have dried when the suspected murder threw two years of negotiations up in the air again. The Indonesian government says that whether or not the MoU goes ahead (and with that the ban on Indonesian domestic workers coming to Malaysia lifted) depends on whether justice is seen to be done in this case. Prospective employers, some of whom have been waiting more than two years for an Indonesian maid, must surely have cursed the fates for the timing of this most recent of abuses against Indonesian domestic workers in Malaysia.

The name of the dead woman is Isti Komariyah, and she was 26. Regardless of whether or not there was an important MoU hanging in the balance, and regardless of whether or not she was a maid, her death would and should still matter. It does not matter that Indonesian maids are also abused and murdered in other countries. It does not matter that some employers or their babies also get abused or murdered by Indonesian maids. For, when it comes to human welfare, this is not a zero-sum game. And though any country can demand for the good treatment of its citizens as a condition of trade, it would be inappropriate to include a promise that justice will be done to those who are wronged as part of that trade agreement. Justice is not supposed to be a commodity that can be bid by the party with deftest negotiation skills or cards with the highest face value.


The role of the MoU should be to smoothen processes and reduce areas that could create friction. Indonesia must regulate maid agencies on its end and ensure that there is no misrepresentation between what was promised and what is delivered. And Malaysia must ensure that all employers understand that a licence to have a maid is not a licence to treat her as a slave. But as one of the biggest importers of labour in Asia, it is also important that Malaysia assure all contributing nations that, in this country, rule of law reigns, and that justice will not be denied to anyone. We must go beyond mere MoUs and institute in law that domestic workers, foreign or local, are workers, too; and that laws and protections apply to them, too. (Excerpt from "Editorial", New Straits Times, 16 June 2011.)

Comment: 

Indeed! Indonesians, irrespective of their origins are human beings and they are coming to Malaysia in flock  in search for work. This means that they are workers and therefore, breadwinners of their families. Whether they come legally or illigellay is beside the point. How I wonder that  there are still this kind of people who look upon them as slaves and will treat them as part of their belongings. It just does not make sense. Or are we Malaysians think that we still live in the age of Roman gladiators. I just do not understand. I just don't! Sorry to say-lah!

  Indomaids are workers too!