PETALING JAYA: Employers who abuse domestic workers and neglect their basic rights will be swiftly charged and penalised, says the Human Resources Ministry.
“The government is committed to ensuring all workers in Malaysia are treated fairly and given the appropriate wages they deserve.
“The ministry will not hesitate to take action against anyone who violates the rights of domestic workers as prescribed by the law,” it said in a statement yesterday.
The statement came after its minister V. Sivakumar met with representatives from Ke Arah 189, a coalition of domestic worker support groups, to discuss issues relating to maids, including their wages and welfare.
“The government looks seriously at issues in which employers neglect the rights of workers and refuse to pay them,” it said while urging victims of abuse and those whose welfare was neglected to lodge a report with the Peninsular Malaysia Labour Department.
On May 4, Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia, Hermono, said the embassy would closely monitor the recruitment process of maids following reports of a couple allegedly abusing their 39-year-old maid at their home in Kuala Lumpur.
It was reported that a total of 800 Indonesian maids had entered Malaysia via the One Channel System, a digital platform local employers used to recruit Indonesian workers.
