Rainsy Blasts Envoys for Failing to Protect Maids

Khmer Times/May Titthara

 

Wednesday, 11 November 2015

 

The hands of Indonesian maid Wagiyo are seen as she talks about her experience of being beaten by her Malaysian employer.Reuters / Bazuki Muhamma

Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy yesterday lambasted Cambodian embassies, saying they are not doing enough to protect Cambodian maids working overseas. 

Mr. Rainsy, president of the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), made the comments in a post on his Facebook page, accompanied by video footage of him, his wife and CNRP vice president Kem Sokha in Japan yesterday.

Ambassadors are not doing enough to protect Cambodian maids, especially those being tortured in the countries they are living and working in, Mr. Rainsy said, stressing that these women are Cambodian citizens.  “We regret that our ambassadors do not care for our maids,” he wrote,  adding that the problem was not only in Japan but also Malaysia. 

“Our maids face many problems but there are no Cambodian ambassadors who come out to protect our Khmer citizens,” he said. “What are the ambassadors doing? The duty of an ambassador is protect our Khmer citizen having problems in the country they are living in.”    

 
Reports of Abuse

Physical, mental and sexual abuse of domestic workers in Malaysia has been well-documented. Reports of young women being brutally tortured, raped and starved – and of others driven to commit suicide – drew widespread condemnation in Cambodia, prompting the government to ban the recruitment of Cambodian women to work as maids in Malaysia four years ago.

According to recent government data, almost 8,000 Cambodian women continue to work as maids in Malaysia. Some chose not to leave the country, others were allegedly pressured by the embassy into staying when attempting to escape, and many have effectively disappeared. An unsanctioned flow of workers to Malaysia persists today, rights workers say. 

Despite ongoing cases of abuse and the silent suffering of those able to return home, Cambodia is preparing to sign a new agreement with Malaysia that would reopen the legal pipeline of maids to the country. The long-awaited agreement, which was originally slated to be signed by the end of 2014, has been stalled.

Traumatized Daughter

San Vat, a resident of Kampong Cham province, said his daughter went to work in Malaysia and returned mentally ill. He said she had sought assistance from the embassy there but received none initially. “My daughter went to the Khmer embassy for help and a day later the ambassador called me to ask for $500 for my daughter to return home,” Mr. Vat said.

“I said, ‘ I don’t have money’. Maybe because she had a serious problem they brought her back,” he said, adding: “They only care about money.”

“I hate that country. My daughter became a different person [there] and when she had a problem there no authorities came to visit her,” Mr. Vat said.  

Princess Norodom Arun Rasmey, the Cambodian ambassador to Malaysia, could not be reached for comment yesterday. 

Moeun Tola, head of the labor program at the Community Legal Education Center, said abuse of maids was widespread and not confined to Malaysia. It also happens in China and Thailand, he said.

 
Recruitment agencies lack transparency in the service fees they charge, maids have to work long hours and sometimes families lose touch with them, Mr. Tola said. “The Cambodia embassies abroad have to improve,” Mr. Tola said. 

Hundreds of thousands of maids from poorer countries in Asia work for families in wealthy cities, including Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Most go through private recruitment agencies to get the jobs. The fees charged by these agencies can equal as much as eight months’ salary for the standard two-year contract, according to research conducted in Hong Kong. 

Cases of severe abuse, suicide and murder have been exposed for decades, yet the multibillion dollar industry continues to thrive as the supply of workers outstrips demand, the research found. – Additional reporting by Vincent MacIsaac