Malaysians are "slave drivers"

I have read Mr Gursharan's letter Try and Live without a Maid... and then the Human Resources Minister's comments, More Job openings but the locals are not keen... and herein lies our problem. We locals do not want low paying jobs with long hours and no off days, but we are not happy to pay more than RM500 for an Indonesian Maid who is forced to work beyond what is fair and humane. While locals will only tolerate for a few days such long hours of tiring labour, as Gursharan has mentioned, many Malaysian employers see nothing wrong or immoral, to force the maids to work from 5 am to 11 pm daily, and even bring the maids to other relatives' homes to clean up, bring cars from other families to be washed daily, and I have known, besides such cases, an employer and neighbour, asking the maid to cook for his mistress's family, including taking care of her 8 dogs! On a recent visit to NASAM, the National Stroke Rehabilitation Organization, we were told that many Indonesian workers who are asked to be 'care givers' to recovering Stroke victims often double up as maids, and usually work through long hours doing house work BESIDES looking after the disabled person. Malaysians have to erase the thinking that the quality of life and dignified living is restricted to those who can pay for it, and learn to treat with sincerity other human beings as human beings, with a right to respect and basic comforts too. We must be grateful that we can pay others to do our "dirty" jobs, don't treat them like dirt!!

hired help: treat them with dignity

treat maids with dignity