MANY LAUD MOVE TO HIRE MAIDS DIRECTLY
PETALING JAYA: It was a case of once bitten twice shy. This was the unpleasant experience which training consultant Rafidah Arifin wants to share.
Due to her busy daily work schedule, the 39-year-old has no time to take care of house chores.
So in 2013, she opted to hire a foreign maid through an agent to help her look after the house.
She paid RM3,500 as a deposit to the agent and the balance of another RM3,500 when the maid, from Medan, finally arrived.
“At first, I thought it was jet lag as she looked pale and sickly.
“After a week or so, she vomited and often complained of stomach pain,” Rafidah recalled.
She then took her to see a doctor, who informed that the woman was three months pregnant.
“I was shocked and at a loss for words. How could the agent send me a pregnant woman to work?” she said, clearly perplexed.
Rafidah said she contacted the agency in Kepong, which gave various excuses.
About one month later, the maid ran away.
“Luckily, she did not take any of my personal items with her.
“I told myself – that’s it. No more hiring maids for me,” said the businesswoman, who runs her own firm.
To add insult to injury, Rafidah said she recommended the agent to four other close friends. Besides her, all four other maids also ended up running away after working for a few months.
“It affected my reputation. I had to bear the brunt of it but was fortunate that my friends did not blame me for it. I felt really bad getting them into a mess,” she said.
Now, things appear to be looking up again and Rafidah is mulling hiring a maid.
During Budget 2018, it was announced that employers will be able to hire maids directly from nine source countries, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam and Bangladesh, without going through an agent.
Employers will also be able to obtain visas for their maids via online applications and pay for levies and processing fees at the present rate.
“I may reconsider and put that bad experience aside. Allowing employers to hire on their own is a good move and a win-win for all parties,” said Rafidah.
Mother-of-two Azrina Mohd Shakaruddin related her experiences on the hiring of two maids, both of whom were not competent.
The first was in 2013. She paid RM4,500 for the 28-year-old maid from Jawa, Indonesia.
“After working for just three months, she ran away.
“The maid was not skilled in household work but the agent, who sent her to me, had claimed she was good,” said the 39-year-old housewife.
Since her two children were still small, Azrina said she and her husband Ismail Marlan, 42, decided to try their luck and hire another maid in 2015. The couple paid the agent RM6,500.
This time, it was an elder Indonesian woman, aged 42.
“She could work but had an attitude problem. She smoked in the house when we were not around and when I confronted her, she denied doing so.
“Since my children are still young, I sent her home. So now, I am looking after them myself,” said Azrina from Gerik, Perak.
With the new method announced on Oct 27, Azrina said she would also try to look for a new maid, hoping it would be third time lucky.
“Some friends have recommended me some potential maids.
“Let me get the full picture from the authorities first and I shall fly to Medan to screen my potential maid next year,” she said happily.
Azrina said if successful, she would share the application process and recommend to others who need a maid.
Theirs are not isolated cases. Several others also faced similar plights.
Flight attendant Azimah Arshad, 29, said she lost RM5,000 last year to agents who did not fulfil their agreements.
Businesswoman Nur Fatimah Adillah, 33, said she had been try- ing to hire a maid for more than a year with some agents asking her to pay RM14,000.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Maid Employers Association (Mama) president Engku Ahmad Fauzi Engku Muhsein lauded the new measure mooted by the Govern- ment, saying an employer could negotiate payments directly with the maid and save as much as 50% in costs.
Currently, the levy and processing fees charged by agents could range between RM12,000 and RM18,000.