Malaysian foreign maid employment agencies and all those involved in the human trade are enjoying the good life what with the fat profit margins they derive from the super-high fees which the Malaysian government willingly allows them to impose.

And in this process, these human trade vendors see no harm in exploiting both employers and the maids to make even more money from both sides.

Malaysia maid agencies charge an employer RM2,300 in recruitment fees for providing a maid from Indonesia. The employers paid an additional RM2,050 to the Indonesian agent but this amount will be 'recouped' through seven monthly deductions from the maid's salary.

Apart from this, the maid will have to find a guarantor who will have to fork out about RM1,200 before the Malaysian government will allow her to work here. And when she starts work, she will have to pay her work levy amounting to RM455 a year.

What's in it for the maid after two years of 18-hour days? A RM400 per month salary with almost half of it going to the gleeful human traders and their indirect beneficiaries.

Employment agencies are also quick to contact employers yearly to remind them that they have to renew the maid's work permit - yet another round of fees to be collected.

Do Malaysian maid employment agencies really deserve such high fees for providing untrained domestic workers? It is an open secret that the majority of them do not adhere to the rules set by the Malaysian Immigration Department.

The employers of the maid often only find out later that their maid came in without valid documents but after that everyone - the employers, the agencies, the government - just plays along for they are all in the same game.

When a maid's family in Indonesia asks for her contact address in Malaysia, the agency more often than not ignores the request or claims that it does not know her exact location.

The maid, meanwhile, may be working as cheap labour to run 'pasar malam' stalls or as a dish washer in a restaurant. Some maids have to serve a household of four generations under one roof. These cases are only the tip of the iceberg.

How can the Malaysian government allow such blatant abuse of human trading without any law enforcement? Why is the government reluctant to recruit Indonesian maids under a Government to Government (G2G) programme to ensure better control and to minimise the ill effects of human trading?

Only corrupt officers and politically-linked companies have excuses for this immoral human exploitation as they can all smell the scent of money amongst the blood and sweat of the victims.