Do West Malaysians Deserve To Have Maids ?

The West Malaysians are having serious problem getting maid to work. The Malaysian Insider reported here.


Have they asked themselves why?


Well, if you treat your maids like animals plus giving them miserable pay and forced then to work unreasonably long hours, who would want to work for you. You can put you money where your mouth is.


My daughter who lives in Cambodia told me even the Cambodian government are not encouraging their girls to come to Malaysia to work as maid and the flow have stopped after a few cases of maid abuse and one death at the hand of a monstrous employer.


The maids are not coming, not so much because of wages, it is because of abusive employer, particularly those who could hardly afford a paid help, but nevertheless was given approval to have a maid. The unfortunate maid not only get abused but also do not get her regular wages on time or in some cases not at all. 


The abuse started the day the maid landed in West Malaysia first by agent collecting exorbitant fees and the abuse continued with some employers deducting the agency fee they paid the agent from the maid's salary.


Some poor maid may end up not getting any wages for the first six months and no day off. Food, it will be scraps off the table.


That how West Malaysians treat their maids I was told. It may not be widespread but the few apples have spoiled the whole basket.


There must be some truth in the story, otherwise, how could they faced such great difficulty in getting maids from other countries to work. 


Malaysia's bad reputation of maid abuse has driven away these poor humans to greener pastures where employers are humans and behaved like one.


The irony of maid abuse in West Malaysia transcends rationality, be they Chinese, Malay or Indian, maid abuse can manifest in any of the household. 


The government is equally to be blamed for not putting in place a proper legislation for employment of maids. How could human being work without day off. The government knew of this practice yet closed its eyes to such abuse.


The Malaysian Insider reported that "With a combined take-home pay of RM5,600, they can well afford the RM650 a month it costs for an Indonesian maid but there simply aren’t any to be had. At least not through legal channels"

I believe it is false accounting and could be one of the causes of maid abuse. Those who can't afford to have maid were allowed to have one.

A combined income of RM5,600 is not enough to support a maid for a married couple with one or two children. With free food and lodging provided the total cost of keeping a maid would be over RM1,000 per month.With outstanding mortgages, car hire-purchase and children going to schools the couple would be hard-pressed to make ends meet. 

It is this kind of people who are likely to abuse their maids and less likely wealthy families. 

With such bad reputation and two foreign governments already banned their citizens to work as maids in Malaysia do the West Malaysians deserve to have maids.

You hardly hear of maid abuse in Sabah and Sarawak.