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.
Sky is the limit! One family One goal – the motto of Yayasan Yusuf. I wish the dream will eventually come through one day. And, that one day is soon. InsyaAllah, with our Allah swt blessings and our sincere efforts, passion, dedication and perseverance, we will achieve and succeed in anything that you do.
Convinced from what I read and discovered in their web site and informed by Hjh Hamiah aka Miot – the Board Director of TwinzBites months ago, I decided to include the BTRR in our Summer 2009 vacation agenda. 
A day after Natty’s grand wedding, on 6.7.2009, we, Bg Hj Abdul Khalek aka Alex and wife, lead by Bg Hj Ma’som and his family, left Hj Ma’som’s residence around 10:00 hrs. We stopped at one of the Malay restaurant not far from the Miri airport fulfilling our appetite and filling our backpack with some kinds of ration. By having said that, nowadays, there are more than 100 Restaurants serves varieties of halal foods fully owned by the Muslims. Thus, easier for any Muslims travelers exploring the exotic Miri – ‘Segalanya Bermula Disini’ literally means Everything Began from Here – one of the Miri’s slogan or motto that one could find in many strategic places around Miri town.
We arrived at the main entrance around 11:20 hours. We stopped for about 5 minutes to settle the entrance fees – RM 25 per adult and RM 18 for kids 12 years old and below. The fee varies from the package that you opt for. In our case, it covered a tea break, a complete tour around the BTRR perimeter with their ‘bus’, jungle hike & trek, lake cruise and two tour guides.
We were ushered to the airy reception area by a very pleasant BTRR employee. There we were briefed on the program and quenched with the locally made fresh orange squash. Minutes later, we were brought to BTRR hall for safety and general briefing.
The ‘bus’ – the BTRR version – a modified truck towed with a tractor waited for us tolerantly outside the hall. We were quite fortunate that day we were the only group exploring the resort. Throughout the tour, one security man – Bg. Shafiee and pleasant tour guide – Stephanie were with us making sure we were safe and well briefed / informed about the whole resorts.
During the briefing session we were briefed on the dos and the don'ts of the BTRR and a short video clip covering the safety tips and the brief information of the BTRR facilities was presented to us at the hall.
BTRR is an agro and nature resort nestled in the natural setting of pristine and lush tropical rainforest of the Lambir Hills neighboring to the renowned Lambir Hills National Park. It has a unique collection of jungle tree species and insects, which can only be found in Borneo rainforest.
The ducks and its ducklings are one of the BTRR inhabitants.
Located along Miri-Bintulu Road (not a highway or an expressway yet), the resort is only 50 minutes drive 39 km from Miri city.
As mentioned earlier, part of the package is hiking and trekking. The kids - 'Afi, M Afiq, M Asri, Ashraf, Aliyah Athirah and their uncle Abu Bakar aka Chote exploring the dried-rotten timber.
Whether it is an Australian Cashmere, Angora or whatever the species is, I called it reggae goat. There are quite a number of these occupants here; however, its rugged or reggae-like appearance reflex to us as if they are not well ‘groomed’.
After about 20 minutes hiking, we reached a place, which they called it Sarawak Pavillion. 10 meters from the hut (built with barbeque table, washing area, table and bench), one could quench their thirst from the natural clean spring water that flow incessantly 3 meters above you to a small pool.
Some of the BTRR’s collections or jungle tree species abundantly available for the visitors to learn and appreciate.
BTRR with its visitor-friendly atmosphere has at least 3 waterfalls that could cool your body, mind and soul. Unfortunately, because of time constraint and the package that we purchased, we were not able to enjoy this natural freshness.
The splendid serenity of the BTRR will surely cool your eyes and minds.
At the highest peak of the BTRR, after about 70 minutes adventure, the kids lead by Hj Ma'som still able to give their supportive attitude and cheerful face to my lethal weapon - the D90.
Preparing ourselves for the lake cruise. We spent around 15 to 20 minutes cruising the natural lake and had opportunities feeding 'ikan Patin' and some other species reared in the lake.
The hungry 'ikan Patin' captured by the Nikon D90.
The 'Dragon fruit', local oranges, the King of the fruit - Durian, and many other local fruits are planted around the BTTR. One could enjoy eat-all-you-can the fruits during its season, but off course you have to pay nominal and reasonable RM for it.
Cooling-off time before we departed the BTRR. We served, which is part of the package, with local fruit flatters, cakes, and hot drinks at the One Tree Hill Cafe. We also had the opportunities enjoying the fresh local coconut 'pandan' drink. The service and the facilities are very commendable.
He maybe unaware of where was he and what was going on around him, but the cute and gorgeous Akmal is the youngest member of our entourage dared himself along the hiking trail smiling happily amid the freshness of the virgin secondary rainforest of Sarawak (below).
Set in tranquil and serene surroundings, indulges you with its natural virgin collections, the Borneo Tropical Rainforest Resort (BTRR) is truly a retreat for relaxation and revitalization of your physique, mind and soul, an invitation to escape from the hustle and bustle of city life.
