A total of 392 domestic workers have sought shelter at the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and its consular around Malaysia since January 2021, said the Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia, Hermono.
However, he hoped to see a significant drop in the number once the provisions of a new bilateral agreement between his country and Malaysia were implemented.
The two countries are reported to be waiting for the completion of a portal for Malaysia that would be linked with the Indonesian online system before opening for new domestic worker applications.
Hermono (above) said many of the workers who sought shelter involved women who earned as little as RM800 to RM1,000 monthly and whose wages were unpaid for more than six years.
In the case of a high-ranking retired police officer, the domestic worker was not paid for 17 years.
While the embassy tries to mediate the payment of back wages, not all employers are forthcoming with payments owed, said Hermono, who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name.
In the case of Saifannur (not her real name), which was reported yesterday, the domestic worker was paid RM20,000 of the RM50,500 owed to her by her employers, a couple with the title “Datuk”, after prolonged mediation and intervention by the embassy and Labour Department.
She worked for them for more than four years, during which she was kept locked in and only allowed to call her young daughter in Indonesia once a year.
Despite not paying the full amount, the couple, who are linked to a high-profile charitable organisation, had tried to negotiate down the amount they wanted to pay to RM17,000.
Hermono explained to Malaysiakini that during negotiations for back wages, employers always insisted on negotiating a lesser amount even when the monthly wages agreed to at the time of recruitment were lower than the minimum wage in the country.
And in the case of the retired high-ranking police officer, Hermono said they had factored in their expenses for items like beverages and bathroom essentials.
He added that aside from unpaid wages, other pending violations commonly faced by domestic workers were physical abuse, retention of their passports, overwork and restricting their movements and communications.
No elements of trafficking in persons
In almost all the cases, the Labour Department and the police had concluded that they could not pursue them under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (Amendment) Act 2010/22 (Atipsom).
Referring to Saifannur’s case, Hermono explained that because a one-off payment of RM600 was sent to her cousin during her employment, her case no longer qualified for consideration under the act.
“They also pointed out to us that another reason they could not file the case under Atipsom was that Saifannur was able to eventually escape the premise and no rescue operation was carried out,” Hermono explained.
He said this was a common occurrence and the embassy frequently resorted to a civil action to recover unpaid wages.
Malaysiakini reported earlier this year that of the 13 legislations that empowered the Labour Department and the various other departments under the Human Resources Ministry to carry out their enforcement and activities, the Employment Act 1955 offered a loophole for employers to short pay on back wages.
Unsatisfied, Saifannur had sought further action with the help of the embassy and filed a police report against her employers.
Hermono said the report detailed that the wages had been withheld, that she had been slapped on several occasions and hit with a mop stick.
However, the 31-year-old single mom from Aceh left Malaysia in early April without waiting for her back wages as she had lost all hope and was eager to reunite with her nine-year-old daughter.
No further action
Apart from the Atipsom Act, there has been no indication so far that any further action would be taken against Saifannur’s employers.
However, Hermono noted that action could be taken under the Immigration Act 1959/63 for harbouring and employing an undocumented worker.
On Monday, Malaysiakini revealed that Human Resources Minister M Saravanan had forwarded two cases involving high-profile former employers of Indonesian domestic workers to the Attorney General’s Chamber to seek prosecution.
He only revealed them to be a ‘Tan Sri’ and a retired high-ranking police officer who had withheld wages for more than a decade.
In January, Malaysiakini broke the story of a domestic worker who had worked for a 'Tan Si' for 12 years without wages, fled to the embassy and intended to sue for back wages.
Her former employer finally paid just over RM100,000 but no further action has been taken against him since the settlement.
In February, Saravanan had warned employers who had declined to pay the wages of domestic workers or mistreated them that they would be permanently blacklisted.
Welcoming the decision to permanently blacklist employers and to seek the prosecution of the more recent high-profile cases, Hermono asked that action not only be taken for high-profile cases.
A bilateral agreement to safeguard workers
It has been reported that the Indonesian government was mandated by its local law to enter into bilateral agreements with countries that had insufficient safeguards for migrant workers in their respective labour laws.
Malaysia is one such country that does not provide sufficient safeguards for domestic workers.
Indonesia has not signed bilateral agreements with countries like Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore where their domestic workers seek employment.
The memorandum of understanding between Malaysia and Indonesia that was inked on April 1 is, by far, the most extensive agreement that provided coverage to Indonesian domestic workers in Malaysia. - Mkini
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