Making the Invisible, Visible: The first step towards understanding domestic workers

Making the Invisible, Visible: The first step...

My issue is about treatment of foreign domestic workers by employers in Malaysia.A domestic worker is a person who works within the employer's household. Domestic workers perform a variety of household services for an individual or a family, from providing care for children and elderly dependents to cleaning and household maintenance, known as housekeeping. Responsibilities may also include cooking, doing laundry and ironing, food shopping and other household errands. Some domestic workers live within the household where they work. Most domestic workers are females. Some of them are abused and forced or tricked into doing immoral activities such as becoming sex slaves. Some foreign domestic workers misbehave and abuse very young people under their care.  

 This research aims to understand and examine profoundly on the issue of foreign domestic workers abuse in Malaysia. This research also focuses on foreign domestic workers from countries such as Indonesia,Cambodia, Philippines, etc who come and work in this country.

 I have been receiving child care from foreign domestic worker since small. Many parents have full time jobs and need domestic help to take care of their children. It is relatively easy to get domestic help in big cities like Kuala Lumpur. Having a domestic worker impacts everybody in the house. Parents have to pay a high agency fee and also take the risk when they leave their children with a domestic worker. The domestic worker may feel good or bad working in that household depending on how she/he is treated. She/He may be treated with respect or physically or sexually abused. Some domestic workers may have contacts with others in the neighborhood and cause harm to the employer and the family by stealing valuables, having affairs and mistreating or even killing small children.

In gathering information from internet resources I have found that Malaysia has earned a bad reputation from Indonesia and Cambodia because of many cases of Indonesian and Cambodian maid abuse by Malaysian employers. Some even get killed while trying to escape. Both countries have imposed a temporary ban on maids coming in to Malaysia.

Malaysia is a rapidly developing country and there are many job opportunities. As more parents start to work they rely on domestic help. Many get domestic help without issue but there are always cases of domestic worker abuse. The government should find ways to reduce this problem. The human resource ministry should conduct discussions with all parties including embassies, human resource agencies, employers and the domestic workers.