Bosses should treat their maids with dignity

Tuesday June 19, 2007

I WAS very disturbed to read that Indonesian maid Shamelin tried to escape from her employer (“Maid gets cold feet while making daring escape” – The Star, June 17).
My heart goes out to the maid who was indeed so desperate that she was prepared to even risk her life to escape from “hell”.

My concern is the adverse publicity that has been generated worldwide, especially in the Indonesian media, which will give the impression that most Malaysians not only ill-treat their maids but also abuse them.
The negative reports will definitely affect our international image and Malaysians will be known as a group of mean people who do not treat their maids well.

This incident should serve as an eye-opener and warning to those who ill-treat their maids. My plea to current employers of foreign workers is to take a hard look at how you treat your maid.
Have a heart. It is true that some of them are slow, or even dumb, and make mistakes.
They wouldn't be maids if they were intelligent and very capable.
Treat them with dignity and like any other human being.

At worst, go seek a replacement.
Don't let the situation reach a point where the maid has to resort to something drastic, as what Shamelin did.
So please think carefully of the possible ramifications should you ill-treat your maid or any other foreign worker.

P. S.
Kuala Lumpur.