RIGHTS-MALAYSIA: Abuses Expose Flimsy Protection for Migrant Workers

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Anil Netto

PENANG, Malaysia, Feb 25 2000 (IPS) - She came to Malaysia to earn an honest living, but Indonesian domestic worker Kusiah Manijan now lies in hospital supported by a respirator, with a fractured skull after being attacked by her employer.

Her plight is the latest in a series of cases of abuse of domestic workers publicised by the local media.

Thirty-two year old Kusiah, from central Java, suffered serious head injuries from being struck on the forehead with a hard object after a series of misunderstandings with her employer.

Police recovered a stone the size of a fist during a search at the employers house and have obtained a court order to remand Kusiah’s employer, a 44-year-old homemaker, to assist in investigations.

Meanwhile, Kusiah drifts in and out of consciousness after recent surgery at the Ipoh city hospital. Those who were allowed to see her were shocked by her condition: a bandaged head, swollen on the left side; badly scarred hands; swelling on her legs; and injuries and scars on her abdomen and back. She was also said to be suffering from malnutrition.

Before Kusiahs assault hit the headlines, two other similar cases of abuse had ignited much debate and soul-searching in recent weeks.

Where has this psychology of abuse crept in? asks Prema Devaraj, a massage therapist who volunteers at a crisis centre for women. If you dont like somebody, just fire them. What is (it with) this slapping and hitting and assault? Its like a torture chamber out there.”

Malaysia is temporary home to some 150,000 to 200,000 legal foreign domestic workers, the majority from Indonesia and the remainder mainly from the Philippines.

Most of them come from poor families and are uneducated, Immigration Department enforcement director Nasir Ahmad was quoted as saying. They come here to earn some money. So even though they are tortured they still want to continue working.

But while media has highlighted these cases of abuse, it has not dwelt enough on the root cause of the problem — the systematic denial of basic rights for foreign domestic workers and the lack of legal protection for them.

In most cases, it is their poverty traps domestic workers in a form of what at worst is virtually modern-day, legalised slavery. In return for wages that hover around the poverty line (ranging from 300-600 ringgit monthly or 80 to 160 U.S. dollars), they sacrifice most of their individual rights.

Although both employer and maid sign an agreement that covers basic terms, they can be so vaguely worded that they accord little protection for the migrant worker.

Filipino maids are more fortunate as the Philippines government has worked out with Kuala Lumpur a number of provisions, including a minimum wage and Sundays off.

In many households, domestic workers are expected to work or be on call from dawn to dusk with little rest in between. They usually do not eat at the same time or at the same table as the rest of the household, and when they do, many are likely to get the leftovers.

Most employers bar their female domestic workers from going out alone – û with the usual reason being that they could get involved with men and create problems. Some do not give helpers a weekly day off.

In many cases, the maids passports are in someone elses possession, further trapping them in their place of employment.

Curiously, in each of the three high-profile abuse cases reportedly recently, the perpetrators of violence were all women.

This ties in with the findings of the All Womens Society of Malaysia (AWAM), which reported that 90 percent of the cases it came across involved women abusers. Thats not surprising, given that it is women who usually supervise the maids at home.

I just wonder why people are treating them so badly, says Dev araj. Just because you hire them as domestic help doesnt mean they are yo ur slaves to abuse.

In other professions, employees do not have to tolerate this kind of abuse or denial of basic rights, she points out. If a teacher makes a mistake, the school head doesnt whack them or burn them with a hot iron.

While the physical abuse of domestic workers happens in many other countries, critics say that the country could very well improve the working conditiosn and protection for the army of workers that do domestic work in families’ homes.

In Malaysia, migrant workers are often referred to in the media as aliens, fuelling their alienation and discrimination. In contrast, however, foreigners holding well-paid jobs are referred to as “expatriates”.

Barred from joining Malaysian trade unions, migrant workers are left with little protection from exploitation and abuse.

Domestic workers are a particularly vulnerable group of migrant workers: isolated in their employers homes in a strange country, denied peer support from their family and other maids, they become the perfect vulnerable targets for abusive employers.

International human rights treaties are supposed to offer far- reaching protection, but crucial ones do not have enough political support to be enforced.

Only 12 countries have ratified the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

That is eight short of the 20 needed for the Convention, which was approved on Dec 18, 1990 by the UN General Assembly,to enter into force.

A global campaign is now underway to get the Convention ratified, but progress has been snail-paced, due to fears by receiving countries that this could encourage permanent migration or lead the provision of services to visiting workers.

This convention, the most far-reaching international instrument so far on migrant workers, provides a set of international standards to address the treatment, welfare and rights of migrant workers and their family members.

Article 25 of the convention states that migrant workers shall enjo y treatment not less favourable than that which applies to nationals of the State of employment in respect of remuneration, conditions of work and terms of employment. This covers overtime, working hours, weekly rest, paid holidays, and termination.

While the convention has yet to come into force, some countries have been working out bilateral labour agreements with host nations to protect their workers — but these are not always possible.

Activists are now saying host countries, since they find foreign labour useful, should have them covered under local labour laws. Foreign work ers should be covered under the (Malaysian) Employment Act and labour laws,  says Devaraj.

“There should be a much more professional contract which talks about off-days, fixed hours, medical insurance, and a termination clause, so that both sides can terminate a contract if they are unhappy.

But critics say these measures are not as simple to carry out, not when foreign labour is very much a political issue and when the phrase “migrants’ rights” prompts concern from labour-importing countries.