Maid or Slaves?

The hot topic of the month

This topic is a bit old but I’ve been holding to the idea of writing this for quite a while now. I was too busy killing terrorist in Call of Duty that I simply forgot to write about this very hot topic. In case you didn’t notice, the government is finally thinking about making one day off per week for maids compulsory. I was pretty shocked to hear that 300 000 maids working in Malaysia are not given a single day off . Dude! That is like worse than being a slave in the Americas. Even the slaves who work in the cotton fields were given Sundays off for church. These are slaves ladies and gents and they are allowed a day off for some RnR. Some maids in Malaysia in the other hand work for 7 days a week. I don’t know about you but that to me just doesn’t seem right.

The only slave that I like. Leia Slave Girl!

As usual the employers started protesting against this possible ruling. They claim that if we allow maids to have a day off they will "mingle with the bad apples" and ends up running away from them. HAHAHA! The maids are adults and are free to mingle with anyone that they like. Malaysia is a free country last time I checked. I think what the employers really fear is their maids hearing about better living and working condition from the other slaves maids. These bringer of good news are the “bad apples” that the employers are so worried about.

I live in an area where a lot of people hire maids. I notice that one of my neighbour’s maid has a very peculiar morning routine. Every morning around 7 I can see the maid cleaning her owner’s employer’s cars. Each morning I saw her polishing the wheels, rims and also hoovers the interior of all three cars. One of the car (an old Honda Civic) is hardly even used but even that car needs to be spit shined daily. What kind of neat freak demands their maid to clean their car on a daily basis? The maid can also be seen walking (actually more like taking the dog out to shit in public and left the shit there for the bandaran to clean) the owner two Labradors, take care of her employee’s 80 year old mother, pick up the children from school (carry the payung and beg sekolah) plus doing the usual house work (cooking, cleaning, washing).

This actually makes me wonder. What is the real work scope of a maid? My mom hires a maid that would come every two week to do some cleaning. Ever since we moved out she needed someone to help her clean the house. So the maid will come and vacuum the house, clean the loo and the freezer every month or so. She never touched the car, feed the cat or take care of my grandmother. For her 8 hour work she was paid RM50 by my mom. Now, I heard that the typical wage for a maid in Malaysia is around RM500. Do you think RM500 is a fair wage for someone who did all the work I mentioned in the earlier paragraph? It is either that or my mom is paying her helper way too much money.

I watch a lot of English period drama and I especially love the Victorian era. The top hats and language from that era is the bomb! Anyway, In the Victorian time the rich would hire a lot of helpers to make sure their mansion is in tip top condition. They hire gardeners to trim the lawn. The chambermaids will clean the rooms and change the bed sheets. Cooks as the name suggest work exclusively in the kitchen to prepare foods. Nannies in the other hand take care of the children while the parents are out. Nurses are also sometimes hired in house to take care of the sick (in Victorian time the sick are not allowed to leave the room. They are confined to their bedroom until they regain their health. No human interaction is encouraged too). Stable boys make sure the horses and the coaches they pull are in perfect working condition. Butlers will personally tend to their employer’s every need. As you can see each of these helpers have specific jobs to do in a household. Maids in Malaysia in the other hand are expected do ALL the tasks mentioned above. Maids are the nurse, nanny, chambermaid, stable boy, cook and butler in a typical Malaysian household. No wonder some of them ran away from their employers!

Orang Gaji - Jane of all trades?

Malaysian can be quite the hypocrite when it comes to issues like this. If they have more that 5 day week they will revolt (e.g my cousin in US work only 5 days and she was paid 1000 USD.. Malaysia damn cheap!) . If they are being paid less than a thousand they will ask for minimum wage to be implemented. But if the same is applied to foreign workers they will say it is UNFAIR to them. What utter bollocks.

p/s : I fantasize about a massive pristine convenience. Brilliant gold taps, virginal white marble, a seat carved from ebony, a cistern full of Chanel no.5, and a flunky handing me pieces of raw silk toilet roll. But under the circumstances I'll settle for anywhere.