Agencies exploiting maids and local employers

V.K. Chin, The Star, Asia News Network, Selangor, Malaysia

It is really amazing that Malaysian and Indonesian middlemen should be pointing fingers at each other for the delay in the recruitment of maids for local employers.

It is a typical example of a pot calling the kettle black. In fact, they are both culpable for the mess because these recruiters are trying to make some easy money at the expense of the maids keen to work here and their prospective employers.

Both are fixing a fee for their services and those interested to come here to work as maids and the Malaysian families keen to employ them have to pay additional money before a transaction could be sealed.

Their activities are well known and they are making it more expensive than necessary for employers to recruit such domestic help.

There are also groups in Indonesia who are trying to take advantage of the situation and exploiting their women, making it financially expensive to work as maids.

Like their male colleagues, these Indonesian girls most probably have to take out loans to pay the recruitment agencies in the republic before they could gain employment overseas, not only in Malaysia but other countries as well.

While most Malaysians may not know what is going on in Indonesia before allowing these women to leave its shores to work, they are more familiar with some of the antics used by local employment agencies.

Malaysian employers of Indonesian maids are charged several thousand ringgit for this privilege and many of them had agreed to this arrangement because they had no choice.

It is unclear what this special charge is for. The agencies say that the money is used for administrative expenses, supposedly to include the training of the maids.

If the performance of many of the maids is anything to go by, then the money would have been a waste as many had not the slightest clue on how to do their household duties.

If it is meant for after-sale service, then it may be acceptable. However, in many cases the employers have found themselves in a dilemma when they have difficulties with their maids.

The employers would have to bear the consequences, especially in finance, if their maids should decide to run away. They would not be able to claim any compensation from the agencies.

If the employers should decide to recruit another maid from the same suppliers, then they would have to pay for such a replacement. Either the employer accepts this arrangement or there will be no maid.

What is even more jarring is that some greedy agencies are recycling their maids and may encourage them to leave their present employers so that they could be offered to other families keen to employ them.

The whole purpose of this scam is to enable these unethical agencies to make more money at the expense of the many working couples desperate for a maid to look after their children and their homes during their absence.