By : C.S.T., Kuala Lumpur
WHILE it is understandable that Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen has to promote issues like replacing foreign maids with local "home managers", I think the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry needs a reality check here.
Organisations like Wanita MCA have been objecting to maids from countries like China and IndoChina mainly on the weak argument that these maids could cause domestic disharmony.
It is a weak argument because the cause of domestic disharmony is not these maids prancing about the house like sex objects.
If there are any culprits, they would be the household's menfolk taking advantage of these poor women who have come to our country to make a living to support their families back home.
Returning to the proposal for home-grown home managers, contrary to popular belief, the main reason most Malaysians opt for foreign maids is not because they are cheaper, but because these maids are employed on long-term contracts of two years or more.
Employers need the reliability of service that these contracts ensure, the few runaway maids notwithstanding. They know that the foreign maid will be with the family for a fixed (often extendable) period of time, and that she will also be present 24 hours a day, which is very reassuring, especially in times of crisis at home.
Local home managers (why don't we just call a spade a spade, and a maid a maid?) usually will not live in, want to go home by 6pm, cost more, demand Employees' Provident Fund and Socso payments, do not work weekends, and -- worst of all -- can resign at any time, leaving the employer high and dry.
Giving them a fancy name is not going to persuade more local women to become maids. Most sources of domestic help in this country were exhausted 15 years ago.
Where has Dr Ng been for the past 15 years?
