Disgrace - forced slavery for 12 years in Malaysia unpunished

'Tan Sri' pays up over RM100K, domestic worker heads home


The Indonesian domestic worker who intended to sue her ‘Tan Sri’ employer for 12 years of unpaid wages has received a payment of more than RM100,000 following a long-drawn mediation between her employer and the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

The ordeal of the 43-year-old from Malang in East Java was exposed in Malaysiakini in December last year after almost one year since she sought refuge at the Indonesian Embassy.

Malaysiakini had also sighted a Subang Jaya labour court document that reflected the dismissal of an RM500 claim brought against her to the Labour Department of Peninsular Malaysia for payment in lieu of a 14-day termination notice, by the son of her employer.

When met again by Malaysiakini, the visibly elated domestic worker, who declined to be named, said “I am overjoyed to finally be able to go home and I am grateful to my embassy for helping me claim my outstanding wages from my employer.”

Eager to see her parents and complete the reconstruction of the family home, she also shared her plans to try her hand at a small roadside restaurant not too far from her home.

“I also plan to employ some workers to start farming vegetables on my parents’ plot of land and when I hire workers, I will treat them fairly, with days off and decent working hours,” she said, adding that she was still in no hurry to get married.

An Indonesian Embassy source explained that a total sum was arrived at by totalling her monthly fixed salary for just under 12 years, based on the official minimum wage rate for each year and deducting costs for certain expenses incurred by the employer.

Employer not charged

The domestic worker had fled from her 18-hour per day employment by a wealthy employer, said to be a Tan Sri in his 70s.

She had tolerated 12 years of constant berating, perpetual physical fatigue and was even slapped by her employer on an occasion when she misplaced a medicinal tablet.

She had described how there was rarely any personal time or time to rest, and for the first seven years, she managed her chores for the family of six adults and two infants in a large five-bedroom house in Kota Damansara.

Her case ticked several boxes of forced labour elements such as withholding of wages, assault, passport retention, restriction of movement and abusive working hours.

While the financial aspect of the case has been settled, there is no indication as to whether or not the employer will face any charges over the alleged forced labour offences.

The Indonesian Embassy source explained that they always acted based on the priorities of the victims and “in her case, she wanted to return home with her unpaid wages.

“And her parents, grateful to hear that she was alive, wanted her to return immediately.

“But if we filed an Anti-Trafficking in Persons Report with the Police, there is no guarantee that she will receive her back wages or return home anytime soon,” the embassy source explained.

The 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) on Malaysia exposed Malaysia’s Employment Act 1955 to the world for its discriminative clauses against the domestic worker sector.

It states that “Employment law continued to exclude domestic workers from a number of protections, including maximum working hours and the country’s minimum wage.”

However, when the Employment Act (Amendment) Bill 2021 was tabled for the first reading in the Lower House of Parliament late last year, the explicitly discriminative clauses in the First Schedule of the Act remained intact.

“The First Schedule is a section of the Employment Act that can be amended by ministerial order and need not be tabled in Parliament, but there has not been any political will to remove it for more than 60 years the Act has been in force,” said Migrant Care Country representative, Alex Ong.

The discriminations ensured that workers in this sector, who are predominantly women, remained vulnerable to their employers, Ong said.