‘Govt trades away rights for money’

NGO Tenaganita claims the government believes the lives of domestic workers should not be placed in the hands of recruitment companies who are key culprits in violating domestic workers' rights.

PETALING JAYA: The government has been chided by Tenaganita for remaining complicit on violence against domestic workers.

Its executive director Irene Fernandez said that both the Malaysian and Indonesian governments have demonstrated that they believe the lives of Indonesian women should be placed in the hands of agents and recruitment companies.

This was illustrated when both governments agreed for recruitment agents to be given the power to resolve deep-rooted issues surrounding the recruitment of domestic workers.

According to recent newspaper reports, both governments maintain that market forces should determine the recruitment and wages of domestic workers.

“How can money be the deciding factor when this entire process affects the rights and lives of women?

“Are domestic workers now on sale to be traded as commodities to the highest bidder sanctioned and approved by the Indonesian and Malaysian governments?” said Fernandez in a statement.

She added it was important to realise how recruitment agents have been key culprits in violating the rights of domestic workers.

“They have falsified the age of young girls so that they can work as domestic workers, they have stripped and searched domestic workers upon arrival in Malaysia to ensure they do not have information of support services or organisations, among other atrocities.

“To say that there are good recruitment agents is to deflect from the violence embedded in the system, the tacit approval granted to agents and employers to do as they wish with the women working in their homes,” she said.

According to Fernandez, Tenaganita received 313 cases involving domestic workers between 2012 and 2013, with over 1200 forms of rights violations including non-payment of wages.

Other cases such as withholding of passports, isolation, denied the right to communicate with anyone out of the home, physical, verbal and sexual violence, food deprivation and forced extension of contract were also reported.

“This information has been consistently shared with the Malaysian and Indonesian governments for the past five years, yet it is still money that drives their decisions,” she said.

She added that the end to forms of slavery and violence against domestic workers can only be realised when governance of recruitment and placement of domestic workers is determined by recognising domestic work as work.

“Fundamental rights of domestic workers must also be protected and the government must ensure a system of employment where there is decent wage and decent work.

“Women’s bodies are not commodities to be traded. The work of domestic workers needs to be valued and respected. Governments who fail in doing that must face the severest consequences of their actions,” she said.

‘Why the haste in wanting to investigate me?’

Tenaganita chief Irene Fernandez lambasts police for wasting taxpayers money investigating her for comments in the Jakarta Post.

PETALING JAYA: Tenaganita chief Irene Fernandez today lambasted the police for wanting to investigate her over comments she made in the Jakarta Post on migrant workers in Malaysia.

The speed in which the police responded to reports lodged against her by several groups on Thursday has Fernandez perplexed. The police said she may probed for sedition on Friday.

Fernandez said it seemed that the police are deflecting attention from the real issue of abuse of migrant workers rights by going for her.

“We have made 15 police reports thus far this year. An additional 10 reports were made by the migrants themselves but the police are slow to act on these reports.

“Why are they wasting their time investigating me when they should be out there investigating these cases. This is a waste of taxpayer’s money,” said Fernandez.

She said that in the past five months, the reports made involved employers or agents holding back migrant’s passports and reports of abuse and violence.

“Thirty-five percent of 43 cases registered with us revealed that the maids were denied proper food and 36% of the same number of cases showed alleged sexual assaults.

“These are serious cases which needed to be investigated in order for justice to be served,” she said, adding that there were more reports of abuse not recorded by Tenaganita.

The Sedition Act, she said, was an archaic law which has been used in the past to intimidate people. “Why is the government targeting whistleblowers?” asked the veteran activist.

Investigating officers unknown

Abdul Aziz Ismail of the Anti Human Trafficking Council Selangor, said that he was puzzled as to why Fernandez was targeted by the authorities.

“We have lodged 30 police reports on matters relating to human trafficking but no action has been taken.

“When I approached Bukit Aman to get an update, the Investigating Officers (IO) in some of these cases were not known,” he said.

He added that he had approached the MACC on alleged corruption involving officials from government departments pertaining to human trafficking, but these reports were ignored.

The MACC is also investigating Fernandez over the interview in the Indonesian daily.

It is investigating her for saying that several Malaysia employers have resorted to “paying the police” or “buying court verdicts” to ensure no action is taken against them.

Fernandez, however, clarified that she was misquoted and that the Jakarta Post has agreed to publish corrections.

She said that it was shameful for Malaysia to sit on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) without a proper framework to deal with discrimination faced by migrant workers.

“You have a seat in UNHRC and you silence human rights defenders. That is what is contradictory with the government of the day,” she said.

To Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s reported comment that she was immoral in criticising government policies, Fernandez said that the government should learn to value constructive criticisms.