Six to 10 run away from their employers every week alleging ill-treatment, inconsistent salary
Jahar Gultom
KUCHING: Six to 10 Indonesian maids working in Sarawak seek shelter at the Consulate General of The Republic of Indonesia each week. Indonesian consul general Jahar Gultom said they fled their respective employers for a myriad of reasons, including abuse, erratic payment of salary and harassment.
“This figure is rather high, and we have no choice but to protect them by sending them back to their hometowns,” he told The Borneo Post at his office here yesterday.
Jahar said another reason these maids run away was the absence of proper contracts.
Across Peninsular Malaysia, the respective consulates would come up with a job order to determine how many domestic maids were needed and then draw up proper working contracts for them. But in Sarawak, the normal practice is that these ladies would enter the state with their passports and then seek jobs as maids through their circle of friends.
“When things turn sour, they would leave their employers and passports behind and come to us for protection and assistance.”
He added that although employers were not allowed to withhold their maids’ passports, it was still widely practised in the state.
Jahar said this when asked to comment on the plight of several employers who had complained to The Borneo Post about these runaway maids.
The most recent complainant was a bank manager, who claimed she paid a legitimate agent more than RM10,000 for an Indonesian maid, but the maid ran away after working for a month.
The bank manager then approached another agent, but the maid she got also absconded after two months.
On another matter, Jahar said currently 423 Indonesians are in Sarawak jails due to various offences, but about 85 per cent of these cases are due to not having proper documents.
He said these Indonesian workers had entered the state legally but became ‘undocumented’ (no proper documents) because they had ‘jumped ships’ midway into their employment.
“The majority of the workers are in the agriculture and industry sectors. They jumped ships while waiting for their multi-entry permits to be processed.
“They most likely switched employers due to getting more lucrative job offers. But when they jumped ships, they left behind all their documents with their previous employers.”
On the number of Indonesians in the state, Jahar estimated there are at least 400,000, but only 110,000 are registered with the consulate.
“A majority of them are working in plantations and industries all across Sarawak.”
To get these workers to register with the consulate, Jahar said the consulate sent out letters last year to more than 100 companies with Indonesian workers to seek their cooperation.
“Sadly, as at today, we only received less than 10 replies.”