Papa: Maid agency not our member

The Star, Thursday December 6, 2012

By LOH FOON FONG

foonfong@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: The maid agency that detained 105 foreign women in Bandar Baru Klang is not a member of the Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (Papa).

Papa president Jeffrey Foo said that, as such, they could not do much to help clients seek redress but had to let the law take its course.

“If you have evidence that you paid the agency, seek a refund quickly,” he told reporters here yesterday.

Foo said if the maids were in transit here to convert their tourist visas into work permits, they were considered to be working illegally.

“It's illegal for employers to use the maid's services before approval is granted by the Immigration Department,” he said.

Foo stressed that Papa did not condone the action of maid agencies in bringing in foreigners through tourist visas and converting them into work permits later.

He said that although the Immigration Department could convert a tourist visa to a work permit if individual employers applied, the process had been abused by many parties, including registered maid agencies.

Not only were the parties flouting the law, it had resulted in possible human trafficking.

Explaining the modus operandi, he said these agencies would bring the maids here illegally and lock them up.

“When an employer asks if they had any maids, they would say yes and ask the employer to pay between RM12,000 and RM16,000 in cash,” he said.

The employer would be asked to fill a declaration form stating that he sourced for the worker by himself.

Since the fees were paid in cash and no guarantee was given towards the service of the maid, many employers could not take a case up with the agency or the Consumers Claim Tribunal when their maids ran away, said Foo.

Foo said Papa's law-abiding members suffered when unethical practices were allowed to happen.

He said Papa was negotiating with the Government for a cost structure revision and gave an assurance that employers would not need to pay more than RM10,000 for a maid from Indonesia.

Maid agencies have maintained that the RM4,511 fee imposed by the Government for Indonesian maids is too low as the actual cost to recruit a maid is double the amount.

UNDP: Extend legal protection to women with informal jobs

By LOH FOON FONG

foonfong@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: Legal protection should be extended to the informal sector of the economy to ensure women's rights are protected.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) assistant representative James George Chacko said the informal economy was a major source of employment for many in developing countries, especially women.

“In general, more women work in informal employment compared to men, and they tend to be grouped in the most precarious and poorly remunerated forms of work.

“In this context, extending the protection of the rule of law to informal and vulnerable work is vitally important to reducing poverty and inequality and protecting women's rights,” said Chacko in his speech at the International Seminar “Towards a More Inclusive Labour Market: Promoting Women's Increased Participation” on Thursday.

It was read out by UNDP programme manager Anita Ahmad.

Chacko said 53% of working women were employed in vulnerable jobs, including as unpaid workers in family businesses or farms.

Due to the lack of public and private support for family responsibilities, the informal economy might offer the only paid work that provides enough flexibility, autonomy and geographic proximity to home for women to combine paid work with family responsibilities, he added.

In her speech, Women, Family and Community Development Ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Noorul Ainur Mohd Nur said that last year, 66.9% had cited housework as the main reason for leaving the labour force.