YOURSAY | 'This amounts to a heightened level of cruelty and humiliation.'

Domestic workers strip-searched, photographed - agency worker

A portal that inadvertently aids human trafficking

Determined Sarawakian: Yesterday Malaysiakini reported on an agency worker who found herself "having to strip-search and photograph innocent, would-be domestic workers so that the agency would have substantial control over them".

These are considered illegal and laws have been broken. The crimes allegedly committed by these recruitment agents include outrage of modesty, sexual abuse, molestation and extortion.

The police and Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) should investigate.

Mazilamani: Surely the report by "Diah" (a domestic worker trainer) is already filed with the Indonesian Embassy, the Immigration Department and the police.

We must first confirm if anything like that has ever happened by speaking to other maids. If it is found to be true, haul up the culprits and investigate them in the nude.

Mistreating another human being is already wrong, but forcing the maids to strip and be photographed and to confiscate their personal documents, money and talisman amounts to a heightened level of cruelty and humiliation.

I am also wondering why the authorities cannot engage in friendly interviews with some of the maids who frequent places of worship or gather at their respective embassies on their off-days. Will it not help in seeking reliable feedback?

I am sure many maids are subjected to long hours of work, food rationing, sleep deprivation, salary deduction, punishment for broken items and are forced to work at children's or neighbour's homes.

What has become of our people? Incidents of abuse by these culprits have already given Malaysia a bad name.

Koel: These are serious allegations. It sounds like Malaysia's lax attitude toward workers is enabling human trafficking under the guise of domestic worker recruitment.

Local NGOs appear helpless, given the loopholes that are exploited by those involved in recruitment. International agencies need to be roped in to fight this trafficking and exploitation, since local agencies seem to be subservient to crooks in the country.

Once again, the failure of domestic agencies in stopping exploitation will be damaging for the country. And punishing journalists or the media for outing the truth will only make authorities look even more guilty.

Mano: I also wonder why there are so many foreign workers working under permits held by those who are not their real employers.

We hear of many foreigners running small businesses, such as gardening, cleaning services, food stalls and so on, having permits under a "sponsor".

In the plantation sector, I overheard sometimes a crony can be given 500 permits. He can then allocate them to workers who bid for them.

Once a year, he gets a fee for being their sponsor. If it costs RM500 per worker and 500 permits were handed out, then a crony can easily earn RM250,000 a year.

Maya: It appears that all are in cahoots with one another, starting from the agents in the source country. This has been going on for years and they got even braver.

At the end of the day, if the worker is lucky, she gets a good employer, and if the employer is lucky, they get a good worker.

Such exploitation exists all over the world but Malaysia stands out as the most corrupt. Anyone can have the best system in place but if the operators of that system are corrupt, including the leadership, then it is simply of no use.

Koel: So is the Human Resources Ministry to be relabelled Human Trafficking Ministry?

Someone better educate Human Resources Minister M Saravanan on what human trafficking is and that these abuses are bringing further disrepute to the country.

And what about the home minister? What is he doing about this country being implicated in this international crime? This is more urgent than chasing after youths protesting corruption in the country, don’t you think?

What is Immigration doing about trying to get some control over workers brought in on social visit passes (SVP) and exploited endlessly in what appears to be akin to slave labour?

This is indicative of the overall incompetence and malaise of this government. Stop persecuting the people who highlight problems and start doing your job!

Anon25: The Maid Online System (SMO) created by the Immigration Department was good. It removed the unscrupulous and exorbitant agents.

The maids were interviewed first before submitting their application to Immigration. It was a choice both for the maid as well as the employer. And if the maid ran away, there was no loss to the employer.

If this system was abused, that was because there were crooks. Any rule, any system can be manipulated by the unscrupulous. Please restore the SMO service as an option for employers.

Malaysian1: Indeed, I believe there is nothing wrong with the SMO system. The agent system is worse and on top of it, they charge exorbitant rates.

Do away with the agent system. It only allows agents to make money exploiting both the maids and prospective employers.

Seladang: Yes, the SMO for maid recruitment is convenient for employers. This system cuts out cartels in the maid recruitment agencies who charge exorbitant fees.

The abuse loopholes stated by former International Affairs Division head of Immigration Department CR Selva must be addressed by the authorities.

Sealthedeal: This is a good article on this dark economy which has been going on for years, allegedly with the connivance of the Immigration Department.

Agents are the scum of the earth. NGOs know this and have voiced their concerns. What does the Home Ministry do? They purge those forced to live in the ‘twilight zone’ and put them into detention camps. It's outrageous and corrupt.

Steven Ong: It is good that Malaysiakini published the voices of these fearless humans who care about others more than themselves.

We should pay tribute to those who speak up against bullying and persecution by the powerful.

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