Sazlin Daud was once an overworked corporate lawyer. She quit practice, became a homemaker (no maids, this is the real stuff), trailed her husband to Egypt for a few years and gave birth to her most difficult client yet - her son. In between ironing, changing diapers and cleaning the cat's litter box, she reminisces about the Egyptian winter, rice pudding and fresh strawberries. She wrote:
After slightly more than two and a half years of living in Cairo, my husband and I returned home to Malaysia at the end of last year, accompanied by our son (Egypt-born), our cat (Malaysia-born), a consignment of over 70 boxes, and a whole lot of experiences and memories.
Since our return, nostalgia has often lured my mind back to Egypt and its people, its different brand of politics, struggling economic and social development, culture and varied lifestyles.
With these vivid ruminations juxtaposed against what is taking place in Malaysia, I sometimes end up with conclusions which leave me feeling grateful I am Malaysian and for what we have here.
Sometimes similar conclusions are reached for both countries but in different hues. Then at other times, Egypt illuminates bright in matters where Malaysia seems doomed to languish.
Take for example the outrage relating to the abuse of Siti Hajar, the Indonesian maid, and the government’s attempt to alleviate the matter by introducing a regulation which makes it mandatory for maids to be given one rest day a week. Why is this regulation’s implementation being met with so much objection?
Understandably, the loudest protestations come from the maids’ employers themselves, mostly citing reasons of definite disobedience by the maids if they were allowed to “run free” each week, and the fear that every disease known to man will be brought into their homes by gallivanting maids.
The practice of having maids is also prevalent in Egypt, and despite there being prohibitions against the hiring of foreign domestic maids, Filipino and Indonesian maids are abundantly available in Cairo. They are the maids of choice for rich Egyptians and the more affluent expatriate community. These foreign maids are paid the equivalent in US dollars of anything between RM1500-2,000 each month.
They clean, iron, babysit, buy the groceries, and sometimes cook – for an additional fee. You won’t catch them washing cars, let alone at 5am – that task is left to the driver or the bawwab, the caretaker of the apartment building.
If you wanted a maid but couldn’t afford the foreign ones, then you would have to settle for the khadaamah, the Egyptian maids. The job scope would be the same but at a cost of around RM500-800 per month. The main disadvantages of employing Egyptian maids are the language barrier (hardly any of them understand, let alone speak, English) and the quality of their work. Sometimes, a crummy attitude is thrown in for good measure. Often they carry out their duties very poorly unless you watch them like a hawk and can reprimand them in Arabic. Even then you cannot guarantee obedience and good service on their part.
But the striking fact which sets apart the maids in Egypt (foreign and Egyptian) from the maids in Malaysia, is that more than 95 per cent of the maids in Egypt are daily maids. Their working hours do not exceed eight hours each day and they get at least one rest day each week. In most cases, they only work five days a week, at most.
Imagine paying more than what we currently pay the Indonesian maids in Malaysia, and yet she only comes in to work eight hours a day, five days a week. And she doesn’t cook nor wash cars.
There are live-in maids in Egypt of course, but their wages are mind-blowing. Even then they still get at least a day off each week.
We are hard-pressed in Malaysia to find local maids nowadays, for the plain reason that the quality of life has improved so much that it is almost unthinkable for a Malaysian to work as a maid when she can earn better wages, have better rights and enjoy a better lifestyle working in a factory or as a salesgirl.
No right-minded Malaysian, no matter how far down the pecking order, will submit to a position of servitude with paltry wages and no rest. If we can appreciate that fact, then we must also acknowledge that hence, a maid’s job is now only attractive to the female migrant workers.
As a country that prides itself in having a good human rights record, it does come across as paradoxical when some Malaysians are unable to apply these basic humanitarian principles to their maid’s working conditions.
The ugly truth is that we as Malaysians have become too pampered. So much so that some families have two or more maids at home, and they don’t live in a mansion. The reason often bandied about is that the maids’ employers are so busy making a living for their families.
We have reached a stage where it is not awkward to outsource familial duties and responsibilities, either because it stems from necessity (from the need to eke a proper living for the family in the increasingly high-cost environment) or priority (resulting from the demands of the workplace, leaving little time for the tasks at home).
It’s a vicious cycle. The maids’ employers can’t be blamed for their dependence on the maids to “run their homes”, because at the macro scale, Malaysia has shown itself over the years to be insensitive insofar as prioritising the family unit of its workforce. Just observe how harassed and frazzled a family becomes when the maid is away on holiday or when the family is in-between maids.
I am not saying that we should do away with live-in maids, but alarm bells should not go off when a proposal is made to provide the maids with some breathing space, once a week. Unfortunately, what the maid does on her day off is not something we can control, because just like us, she is a human being, with emotions, needs and yes, foibles.
She may spend her money on trivialities, seek friendship or even a dodgy relationship once she’s out of our house. That is the regrettable consequence we have to bear when we have a maid in our employ. It is then left to the employers to help the maid find some sense of belonging with the family she works for, so that instances involving any lack of judgment on her part can be minimised.
And sometimes when we only focus on the negatives, it clouds objective thought. The maid may very well just want to stay home and sleep all day on her day off, which she is perfectly entitled to do.
We must remind ourselves that nothing should differentiate the maid from other workers. She should be accorded her due rights, of which the very least is to have one rest day each week. If she opts to work on her rest day, then she should be remunerated for that, just as how other workers are paid triple their day wages when they work weekends or public holidays.
A failure to accord maids with this basic right, what more when they are live-in maids literally at the beck and call of their employers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, will amount to nothing short of modern-day servitude.
And if a country like Egypt which is still on that treacherous climb towards economic and social development (more so than us, anyway), can acknowledge that all its workers must have rest at least once a week, then we can certainly do the same here.
Since our return, nostalgia has often lured my mind back to Egypt and its people, its different brand of politics, struggling economic and social development, culture and varied lifestyles.
With these vivid ruminations juxtaposed against what is taking place in Malaysia, I sometimes end up with conclusions which leave me feeling grateful I am Malaysian and for what we have here.
Sometimes similar conclusions are reached for both countries but in different hues. Then at other times, Egypt illuminates bright in matters where Malaysia seems doomed to languish.
Take for example the outrage relating to the abuse of Siti Hajar, the Indonesian maid, and the government’s attempt to alleviate the matter by introducing a regulation which makes it mandatory for maids to be given one rest day a week. Why is this regulation’s implementation being met with so much objection?
Understandably, the loudest protestations come from the maids’ employers themselves, mostly citing reasons of definite disobedience by the maids if they were allowed to “run free” each week, and the fear that every disease known to man will be brought into their homes by gallivanting maids.
The practice of having maids is also prevalent in Egypt, and despite there being prohibitions against the hiring of foreign domestic maids, Filipino and Indonesian maids are abundantly available in Cairo. They are the maids of choice for rich Egyptians and the more affluent expatriate community. These foreign maids are paid the equivalent in US dollars of anything between RM1500-2,000 each month.
They clean, iron, babysit, buy the groceries, and sometimes cook – for an additional fee. You won’t catch them washing cars, let alone at 5am – that task is left to the driver or the bawwab, the caretaker of the apartment building.
If you wanted a maid but couldn’t afford the foreign ones, then you would have to settle for the khadaamah, the Egyptian maids. The job scope would be the same but at a cost of around RM500-800 per month. The main disadvantages of employing Egyptian maids are the language barrier (hardly any of them understand, let alone speak, English) and the quality of their work. Sometimes, a crummy attitude is thrown in for good measure. Often they carry out their duties very poorly unless you watch them like a hawk and can reprimand them in Arabic. Even then you cannot guarantee obedience and good service on their part.
But the striking fact which sets apart the maids in Egypt (foreign and Egyptian) from the maids in Malaysia, is that more than 95 per cent of the maids in Egypt are daily maids. Their working hours do not exceed eight hours each day and they get at least one rest day each week. In most cases, they only work five days a week, at most.
Imagine paying more than what we currently pay the Indonesian maids in Malaysia, and yet she only comes in to work eight hours a day, five days a week. And she doesn’t cook nor wash cars.
There are live-in maids in Egypt of course, but their wages are mind-blowing. Even then they still get at least a day off each week.
We are hard-pressed in Malaysia to find local maids nowadays, for the plain reason that the quality of life has improved so much that it is almost unthinkable for a Malaysian to work as a maid when she can earn better wages, have better rights and enjoy a better lifestyle working in a factory or as a salesgirl.
No right-minded Malaysian, no matter how far down the pecking order, will submit to a position of servitude with paltry wages and no rest. If we can appreciate that fact, then we must also acknowledge that hence, a maid’s job is now only attractive to the female migrant workers.
As a country that prides itself in having a good human rights record, it does come across as paradoxical when some Malaysians are unable to apply these basic humanitarian principles to their maid’s working conditions.
The ugly truth is that we as Malaysians have become too pampered. So much so that some families have two or more maids at home, and they don’t live in a mansion. The reason often bandied about is that the maids’ employers are so busy making a living for their families.
We have reached a stage where it is not awkward to outsource familial duties and responsibilities, either because it stems from necessity (from the need to eke a proper living for the family in the increasingly high-cost environment) or priority (resulting from the demands of the workplace, leaving little time for the tasks at home).
It’s a vicious cycle. The maids’ employers can’t be blamed for their dependence on the maids to “run their homes”, because at the macro scale, Malaysia has shown itself over the years to be insensitive insofar as prioritising the family unit of its workforce. Just observe how harassed and frazzled a family becomes when the maid is away on holiday or when the family is in-between maids.
I am not saying that we should do away with live-in maids, but alarm bells should not go off when a proposal is made to provide the maids with some breathing space, once a week. Unfortunately, what the maid does on her day off is not something we can control, because just like us, she is a human being, with emotions, needs and yes, foibles.
She may spend her money on trivialities, seek friendship or even a dodgy relationship once she’s out of our house. That is the regrettable consequence we have to bear when we have a maid in our employ. It is then left to the employers to help the maid find some sense of belonging with the family she works for, so that instances involving any lack of judgment on her part can be minimised.
And sometimes when we only focus on the negatives, it clouds objective thought. The maid may very well just want to stay home and sleep all day on her day off, which she is perfectly entitled to do.
We must remind ourselves that nothing should differentiate the maid from other workers. She should be accorded her due rights, of which the very least is to have one rest day each week. If she opts to work on her rest day, then she should be remunerated for that, just as how other workers are paid triple their day wages when they work weekends or public holidays.
A failure to accord maids with this basic right, what more when they are live-in maids literally at the beck and call of their employers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, will amount to nothing short of modern-day servitude.
And if a country like Egypt which is still on that treacherous climb towards economic and social development (more so than us, anyway), can acknowledge that all its workers must have rest at least once a week, then we can certainly do the same here.
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