The Malaysian government has decided to revise its labor laws to regulate foreign housemaids, including giving them a weekly day off, in a positive move that shows up the Indonesian government's lethargy in devising regulations to protect domestic helpers here and abroad.
Malaysian state news agency Bernama quoted the country's Human Resources Minister S. Subramaniam as saying Tuesday his ministry would make it mandatory for employers, maids and their agencies to sign employment contracts "containing provisions like the salary, the name of employers, their workplaces and the compulsory one day off a week".
"We may be able to implement it this year," the minister said.
Housemaids - mostly women - are not considered formal-sector workers in Malaysia or Indonesia. Neither country's labor laws apply to them, making them particularly vulnerable to abuse and forced labor.
Malaysia's plan to revise its labor laws comes amid concerns raised by Indonesian authorities and Malaysian trade unions about the protection of foreign workers in the country, after an Indonesian maid was recently found to have been brutally tortured and forced to work without pay by her employer for three years, in the latest of several such cases.
Subramaniam was quoted by AP as saying that foreign maids in Malaysia would be given a list of telephone contacts for embassy, police and welfare officials to report any abuse, adding the ministry would conduct random checks on households. "We hope these measures will provide maids with better security and welfare," he said.
Jakarta has said it planned to temporarily stop sending migrant workers to Malaysia, after reports surfaced of the abuse experienced by Siti Hajar of West Java, while awaiting the revision of a memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries in 2006 to protect migrant workers.
National Board for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) head M. Jumhur Hidayat said a weekly day off was among the planned revisions, as well as the provision that migrant workers keep their passports in their possession. Indonesia sent 66,816 migrant workers to Malaysia last year, according to the BNP2TKI's data available on its Website.
Jala PRT, an Indonesian NGO promoting the rights of domestic workers, said domestic workers here were just as vulnerable as their counterparts in Malaysia, with most still working seven-day weeks, and left in the dark over their salaries.
"They don't sign contracts; they often have their salaries cut and never get a raise," the group's coordinator, Lita Angraini, said.
The Justice and Human Rights Ministry is currently drafting a law on domestic workers, but it is unlikely to be passed into law this year.
