Rights group urges KL to protect migrant maids

Rights group urges KL to protect migrant maids

Vijay Joshi, Associated Press/Kuala Lumpur

International group Human Rights Watch is urging Malaysia to protect the rights of migrant domestic workers, especially Indonesians, saying they are regularly falling prey to abusive employers and labor agents because of inadequate labor laws.

In a letter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the New York-based group also called on Malaysia to exempt refugees, abused migrant workers and trafficking victims from its ongoing immigration crackdown on illegal migrants who face jail, fines and caning.

The letter, dated Thursday, May 19, was posted on the group's website on Wednesday.

"It's time for Malaysia to clean up its own house by extending labor protections to domestic workers," said LaShawn R. Jefferson, Womens Rights director at Human Rights Watch, in a report accompanying the letter. "Domestic workers in Malaysia continue to face rampant abuse," Jefferson said.

Malaysian government officials did not immediately respond to the report, which points out that migrant domestic workers are excluded from a law that otherwise would have ensured them one rest day a week, and 48 hours per week of work.

In the absence of such protection, Indonesian domestic workers in Malaysia typically are forced to work 16 to 18 hour days, seven days a week, while earning less than US$5 a day. More than 90 percent of Malaysia's 240,000 domestic workers are Indonesian.

The Human Rights Watch report is independently corroborated by anecdotal evidence by many non-governmental organizations, who say abuse of Indonesian maids is rampant. The Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur also receives thousands of complaints from maids every year.

Many employers hold their maid's salary until the end of the standard two-year contract. In Malaysia, most domestic workers are forbidden to leave their workplace and many suffer psychological, physical, and sexual assault by labor agents and employers, Human Rights Watch said.

Malaysia is one of the largest importers of foreign labor in Asia with about 20 percent of its work force comprising of migrants, primarily employed in construction, palm oil plantations and domestic service.

Nearly half a million illegal migrants, mostly Indonesians, left Malaysia during an amnesty period ending Feb. 28. Since then, the government has been carrying out a crackdown to expel those left behind.

But "mass expulsions will not solve illegal immigration. The government must commit itself to meaningful labor reforms and the prevention of abuse," said Jefferson.

The rights group urged the Malaysian government to amend laws to provide maids full protection of the law and to impose severe punishment on agencies that violate guidelines.

It also recommended developing a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia on domestic workers that contains a standard contract with provisions on hours of work, rest days, and pay.

It said the Malaysian government has also detained about 1,100 foreigners on the charge of being illegal migrants when in fact they are believed to be political refugees. About 60 others have already been convicted and sentenced to caning, jail and fines, it said.