Who’s afraid of Indonesian maids?
MAIDS are people too. But you would not think so judging from the shockingly negative response from employers of domestic helpers to government legislation making one day of leave per week mandatory.
By Yow Hong Chieh (The Nut Graph)
Opposition to this law has laid bare the knee-jerk tendencies and racism of certain segments of Malaysian society, despite transparent attempts by employers to couch their disapproval in minarchist, or limited-government, terms.
MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek fired the first high-profile salvo on behalf of the naysayers when he wrote a blog entry questioning the wisdom of such legislation. He opined that the congregation of maids on leave could potentially make parts of the city feel "un-Malaysian", and suggested that they would be susceptible to being hoodwinked by other foreigners into committing crimes that could possibly endanger their employers' lives.
Let's ignore for the moment that these comments were primarily targeted at Indonesian domestic helpers. After all, the Filipino government, through various alphabet soup organisations, has been largely successful in enforcing the one-day leave minimum for its nationals working overseas. Instead, let us first look at our legal responsibility to provide fair working conditions for domestic helpers in general.
Read more at: http://www.thenutgraph.com/whos-afraid-of-indonesian-maids
