Annus horribilis for maid agencies — Cheng Piang Wah

Friday, 19 Feb 2021 09:06 PM MYT

 

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FEB 19 — It is coming close to a year during which maid agencies were totally closed for business and all are languishing in despair. With zero income for almost a year, many are on the brink of folding adding more to the jobless market. Sounds ironical that employment agencies add more to the jobless market but that will be a reality if we are not allowed to move on with our businesses.

The government might have missed the forest for the trees. Though a relatively small industry probably having less than 500 active players in West Malaysia, the government must take cognisant of it as it has a multiplying effect on the economy of the country. Though direct contributions to government coffers might not be significant (about RM120 million a year mostly from levies) the indirect contributions are enormous and not quantifiable. As without these foreign maids, many professional Malaysians will not be able to work hence depriving the country of the necessary human resources to attract foreign direct investments.

Maids are also needed by expatriates and "Malaysia My Second Home" visa holders and we appreciate the government for the provision of allowing expatriates to have their foreign maids at these difficult times but surprisingly leaving the locals out. Indeed, for locals, there are far more crying needs for foreign maids not only for taking care of children but also for old folks who are desperately in need of help. As alternative, many employers are hiring illegal foreign maids who prefer to stay out, meaning they come in the morning and go off after work in the evening. These illegal maids are usually brokered by illegal agents, and once there are problems, the latter will disappear. Hence, I will take this opportunity to advise employers not to deal with any of these insidious illegal agents.

Furthermore, the illegal maids will usually demand exorbitant salaries which are an extra burden for employers during this difficult time. But the latter has only Hobson’s choice right now. However, the more pressing concern is that these illegal foreign maids will be more precarious to the employers and their families as the chances of these maids contracting Covid-19 is much higher because of the stay-out arrangements. Those that are brought in legally, we are certain that every maid will have to follow the meticulous and strict medical protocols before departure and on arrival. Even after paying extra for whatever medical protocols required to bring in the maids, the employers will find it cheaper and medically safer for them in the long run.

Maid agencies have found it difficult to operate during the pandemic. — TODAY file pic

Statistics, as provided by our Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob Ismail, show that 117,449 passengers had arrived through KLIA between July 24 last year to Feb 5 this year from various countries. A total of 489 people tested positive and were sent to a hospital for treatment. This effectively means that those arriving from overseas contribute only 0.42 percent of positive cases. This means only one positive case out of 238 arrivals which is statistically insignificant. Moreover, according to government reports, this current wave of Covid-19 infections involves mostly local transmissions and most of the clusters formed were caused by laxity in observing standard operating procedures (SOP).

As a matter of fact, many other receiving countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and most Middle Eastern countries have already opened their borders for foreign maids for quite some time and so far, there are no incidents of clusters there as the maids are all staying with their employers. Furthermore, the government has opened the borders to foreign students. To call for a total ban on foreign maids without sound reasoning and statistical backup is totally unfair and lacks consideration for the maid industry and akin to breaking a butterfly on a wheel.

Many other businesses who appealed to the government were allowed to operate, examples are restaurants, optometrists, night markets, barber shops, hair salons and car washes. And from Feb 10 onwards, most other remaining businesses will be allowed to open including gambling outlets. We highly appreciate the government for being empathetic to them and for taking into consideration the balance between life and livelihood. We hope the same consideration will be given to the maid industry.

The government - especially Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Semenanjung Malaysia (JTKSM) - must appreciate that maid agencies have been exceptionally patient because like all concerned Malaysians, we want to share the responsibilities of containing the virus in whatever manner we can. But our funds are running thin and we need help now. Most of us have just paid our licence renewal fees and all other fees diligently. We put up the bond of RM100,000 to RM250,000 to the government as required. We have never asked the government for any special assistance because we never thought the ban will drag on as if it is infinito.

Our burn rate is from RM15,000 to RM50,000 per month, including bond payments to the bank, normal monthly expenses, company expenses and a string of other fees, like accreditation fees to foreign governments, etc. But the greatest worry is the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads, that is losing the deposits paid to our counterparts in the source countries for booking their maids. The sum usually ranges from RM50,000 to a few hundred thousand Ringgit depending on the level of business activities. The fear of losing these deposits has given many agencies sleepless nights as the longer we wait, the chances of recovery fade. The prolonged hiatus has given opportunities for our foreign counterparts to do the disappearing act and some are already incommunicado.

We do not have the luxury of waiting any longer as most of us cannot survive if the government keeps on holding us back. We therefore fervently request empathy from the government to consider re-opening this sector as soon as possible. Perhaps it would be prudent to start the ball rolling by initially allowing maids with approved calling visas followed by allowing new applications one month later. Even if the government allows us to start the processing now, it will take about three months before foreign maids can begin to come in.

        A “Tribute” to Tun

 A Doctor In The House wry and sly,
The Malay Dilemma you feign to cry,
Soon after the tragedy in May 69,
Rising from the ashes you became mighty and high,
A good 22 years you reign in style,
Shedding crocodile tears when time to say good bye.

 A crooked man with a crooked mind,
Wanted a crooked bridge, the rational hard to find,
Billions vanished without any trace or sign,
Plundering the country is never a crime,
Corruption, cronyism and racialism, all are fine,
Leaving this beloved Bolehland way far behind.

Ketuanan Melayu, Hidup Melayu is you battle cry,
You scream all these to cover your deception and lie(s),
Many saw these but pretend to be blind,
Mercy upon those who do not toe your line,
Know not why you lose your memory when in a bind,
Another intelligent devil like you we hope not to find.

Star Headline (07/02/13) "150k loans for students” I would like to remind those students and parents who had read the Star today (07/02/2013) on “150k loans for students”, do not feel ecstatic about it. Please be prepared for a rude shock. No banks or any financial institutions in their right mind will give loans without any collateral. As according to Najib “this is a creative way of helping the rakyat”, I do not see anything creative about this. The interests charged is far too high and much higher if you were to take a mortgage loan. Najib should be sent back to school to study mathematics and calling it as creative, do not emanate intelligence. In 2004 or 2005, the government has a loan scheme for tertiary students studying overseas. I was one of the few who knows about this loan scheme. Not even Dr Wee Ka Siong ( who was then the MCA Education Bureau chief) knows about this. I tried applying the loan for my son who was studying in Australia then but PSD keeps on giving various excuses and twisting their terms and conditions to turn the loan down. The same methoddology was applied by the PSD when I applied again for the loan for my second son and when everything was in compliance to their twisted terms and conditions; a new twisting took place. Well what I can say is the moron has always some silly way of depriving your rights. I had all the records as proof. Getting Dr Wee Kar Siong to help and with due respect and gratitude for all his efforts , it gets no where except more frustrations and chide. With all their twisting and turning, is like chasing after the rainbow. Is this loan scheme still available, I do not know and I do not wish to know as I had given up hope on this Government, the BN government run by UMNO. The silly idea of getting Financial Institutions to dispense study loans is called creative. Any takers?

Global Issue Forum III on Corruption

The Forum was held in PJ Civic Auditorium on 09/01/2010 with distinguished speakers like Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, Dato Ambiga Sreenevasan and Datuk Zaid Ibrahim. It was heartening to hear some of them pouring their hearts out regarding the scourge of corruption besieging our Nation. I particularly concur with Ambiga on what she spoke in the Forum (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYmBkhx6F3w) and there is no lesser truth to it. You can rave and rant and dissent but you can only run but not hide.

It takes two hands to clap

Another speaker Tan Sri Navaratnam particularly caught my attention when he stressed that in corruption “it takes two hands to clap”. I think he is referring here to low level corruption (because high level corruption do not needs any hands to clap as it involves multi million or billion Ringgit transactions which slithered through unseen and uncanny hands in the form of commissions or kickbacks, contracts, patronage, leakages and all sorts of crafty and shady deals).

Coming back to the issue of “clapping hands”, I must agree and disagree on it. Insofar as the eyes can meet there is little to deny but under the scheming Malaysian government officers who has made a living out of it for so long and along the way has learn the intricacies and become sophisticated.

The problems which Tan Sri Navaratnam fails to see or refuses to see (because of his position in the MACC advisory council) is that In an advance corrupted country like Malaysia the other party is always willing to put out their hands for you to clap. Unlike Singapore, Hong Kong or Australia and any lesser corrupted countries try clapping their hands. Instead you will immediately get another slap of a more serious summon.

Why corruption is rampant here is because the Government is corrupted all the way from top to bottom and being prevalent for decades this became a norm and those in control will resist taking any serious action for fear reprisal or a similar judgment on themselves.

Coming to the gist of two hands clapping, I am sure Tan Sri Navaratnam is aware of the vast opportunities or avenues created by some high level bureaucrats for them to be corrupted or resist corruption. After tasting the delicious fruits for so many years, the bureaucrats are in no hurry to put a brake to it but instead produce more ambiguous and discretionary policies and extend more red tapes, for reasons everybody knows. Worst still half hearted preventive measures or a little “sandiwara” here and there makes corruption mutate and become more potent and elusive. ” Under table” money was the norm previously, but now it has now to go in a full circle to involve a third party collaborator and the stakes are higher as what is happening in DBKL, modus operandi explained in this bog. For information, walk into the DBKL office and you can see many of their officers playing computer games and yet it take ages for any approval.

In addition to the discretionary powers because of many grey areas

Other pertinent issues that give opportunity for corruption are intentional loopholes created to offer another opportunity for corruption. There are so many glaring examples, common ones are:

(i) applications where the duration and approvals are left to the discretion of the officers and no clear guidelines and time frame. Hence resulting in bribery to jump queue and suspicious approval

(ii) intentionally make life difficult for the applicants in terms of queuing time by placing the number of officers not proportionate to the crowd

(iii) murky and confusing application forms. Hence all this will need the services of touts who works hands in gloves with the officers to take advantage of the circumstances.

(iv) phone calls are never attended to ( and if even manage to get thru, there will be no help as the officers are always away on meetings (in actual fact either they are coming late or leaving early because of running some private errands and or dropping or picking up their children to or from school.

(v) absence of email facilities or no reply is cynical system to make things difficult or the need to run to them offering an opportunity to grease their palms. Sad to say, most of the time the government officers conducting their business are pathetically slow. Time is money and employers will instead employ runners who in turn will be at their mercy.

(vi) from my observations on the Immigration website even simple information like the list of all the government approved Maid Agencies are not there, hence unfairly depriving the employers of any knowledge of dealing with the wrong agencies. Invariably this gives the illegal agencies opportunities to operate without any control and free from impunity and appear and disappear as and when they like. Most problems arising from the intake of foreign maids are derived from these illegal. To my mind, this information is intentionally left out because illegal are forced to pay to get things done and they pay big. They have no other option. Anyway these illegal agencies has no qualms in not only faking documents but has also inside help to fake. That is why the illegal immigrant’s problem will never be eradicated as they are providing the corrupted enforcement officers a good source of income.

It is widely known that small to medium size companies are finding it hard to deal with government officers as they will look for ways and means to find fault. A telling example is an application wrongly turned down and was told to see an officer by the receptionist. However the moment she knows that application was for a company she immediately told that the officer is away for a meeting and nobody can help but only to come back to Putra Jaya tomorrow. Knowing that she is deliberately making things difficult my friend outfoxed her by asking his friend to help by seeing another receptionist to request to meet the same officer which obviously was in. As you can see many fall victims as they really knows how to make life difficult for you, especially is you are running a small business.

Every businessman knows that it is suicide if you dare cross any of the officers and any complaints will only results in more difficulties and as had said before the whole system is corrupted from head to toe and there lies a nest of syndicated conspirators. As an individual they tend to be lax or maybe more careful because they know it is not very lucrative as it’s a one time deal. But for Companies whom they know will have to return to them again, they know the representatives will not dare to complain and the weak will resort to bribing to get things done. This group will ultimately become close to them and that’s how they get them entangled into corruption. Except for some strong hearted and principled people who do not mind encountering the difficulties and are somewhat smart enough to outfox them (sometimes), the rest will ultimately fall prey.

There are many glaring instances that in spite of them knowing the loopholes, nothing is done. Examples are the renewal of calling visas which under the present system can be renewed without the presence of the passport holder, of course with a price. This can be prevented by introducing a simple mandatory thumbprint of the applicant and why is this not done. The other is the highly controversial VOA. Once the foreigner is inside the country many will have their visa lapse, as can be seen by the missing 39,000 Chennai Indians. Being deemed illegal the police will have a field day collecting tithes from them. Every month openly they are going round on a motor bike to collect their dues. Isn’t that good enough to explain why we are having this big headache and the innocent people are the sole losers as many are killed or maimed by these unscrupulous foreign thieves or murderers. These are only a few examples and of course there are many more which can fill pages.

So Tan Sri, your adage of “taking 2 hands to clap” is only partially true. In our beloved Malaysia even if you have no hands you will still have to clap. They are put there to make life difficult for you. That is the truth in it. Perhaps you can do something about it by getting the government to do a total overhaul of the whole system and get those naughty boys out by early retirement. That is seemingly a very tall order.

The Wayang Kulit of the Judiciary directed by UMNO

In case you have forgotten brother LKS, let me bring you back to the same scenario in the 80s when the high court granted you in favor against United Engineers Malaysia Bhd and the government to stop the North-South Highway project. What happen were you won the battle but lost the war (and until today the rakyat we are still suffering from the overkill of UMNO).

Do not forget that our TDM is still alive and kicking and if that strategy can work before it should also work now. Pakatan Rakyat do not be too happy as UMNO had many tricks up their sleeves and this trick, by letting you won the first round will work against you the PR as you will be made to eat your own words by telling that “this is the first step of judiciary independence".and in Anwar own words “ The High Court’s decision is a triumph of the Rule of law and affirms that the Constitution is the highest law of the land”.

Hear me, until today you can be sure the judiciary had not recovered from its onslaught by UMNO and your euphoria is just short live. Even if you win the second round through the court of appeal, I can assure you that you will finally loose the final round through the Federal court. I can also assure you that this strategy has work well for them for years since TDM came to power and it is not going to go away as long as BN stays. This "sandiwara" is a definitely a good and intelligent implant to make you believe that the judiciary is independent. I am sure this case will reach the federal court and here lies the crucial decision and here you can be sure the decision will be in whose favors and by then you cannot say that the court is not independent. They just lure you to their trap, and I am afraid YB Nizar and many PR veterans has not reached this level to understand the art of war by UMNO.

Why are they so determined not to dissolve the state assembly is food for thought. They prefer to let the court decide who should rule the State even though they are aware that this is nauseating to most decent Malaysians.Telling that by- elections are a wastage of funds is simply hilarious insofar as UMNO is concerned. Since when had they been so careful with our money.

UMNO, you can bullshit some people sometime but you cannot bullshit all the people all the time.

Sequel to my last posting on 23/07/08 about DBKL, this is the feedback from a forum “about local council reform” and emailed to me by Tricia Yeoh, Director of the Center for Public Policy Studies.

A contribution to all those who had missed the forum, including myself.

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your elaborate reply!

Interestingly, we had a session over the weekend about local council reform
and DBKL came up as one of the highest potential for corruption, mainly
because it doesn't have to submit its budgets to anyone. It has completely
different laws (doesn't fall under the Local Government Act). Perhaps this
is something you should take up if you are a resident in KL City area.

If you are not in KL, then you definitely fall under the jurisdiction of a
local council, and as a resident you have the right to attend all local
council meetings - the law says so. I'd recommend that you claim that right
to do so.

Thanks for the points you raised below. That's a direct example of how
corruption cases are horribly mismanaged.

All the best. Keep in touch. Are you on our mailing list? I'm sure you are
already.

Cheers,
Tricia

On 22/07/08 I received a mail from Tricia Yeoh Director of the Center for Public Policy Studies on a subject matter regarding revamping of the system that manages the recruitment of foreign workers and my answer to her Question “What do you think is a more reasonable solution compared to what takes place currently”? and this is my reply to her.

Thanks for your reply. We are sad but not everybody is sad. To me it is very upsetting, unsettling and stressful. The endemic malaise can make the best system fail. The corruption level here is like cancer stage 2 bordering stage 3 which means critical but not impossible for recovery. Cancer is a biological disorder but corruption is a man made disorder. What men can make men can break. If the government does not have the willpower, the rakyat must have the will power. Hence we must be persistent to break up the chain of corruption which obviously is incestuously engineered to make it complicated by those who will benefit from it directly or indirectly. This root of all evils must be censured and eradicated before we can see any good policies having its rightful place.

Coming back to your Question of "Would be good to hear what options you think are most viable". These outsourcing companies mostly get their license through nepotism or bought at a very exorbitant price (unconfirmed sources says the price is between RM300,000-400,000.) as what I was told. How much truth in it is difficult to confirm. So what do you expect these companies who had put up so much as capital investments will do? Then there is another question of nepotism and conflict of interests. So you can imagine what will be the end results where greed of certain individuals had created havoc at the expense of the country's security and that is also the reason why this country is easily infiltrated by illegal. Even a permit for sourcing foreign maids commands about RM100,000 as according to an article published by Migrant Care March 21st, 2007.(http://www.bangkit.net/2007/03/21/say-no-to-hidden-corruption-fees-on-maid).

Unfortunately judging from the unfolding events, the government is not ready to fully combat this malaise for reason/reasons best known to them. The extent of corruption and abuse of power is beyond comprehension and half hearted fights against it will only make matters worse as in many cases it has mutated and becomes a more potent disease, a scenario similar to non diligence in taking anti biotic. I will quote one or two examples of my personal encounter with DBKL on this new phenomenon called mutation of corrupt practices.

Case no.1.

A few years ago I took over a Restaurant in KL and applied for a Restaurant license. A request of the restaurant plan and neighboring vicinity will be reasonable and which we can produce easily, but instead they wanted a plan or I called it a map of the restaurant and its vicinity of about 3km radius. They were unable to produce the reason/reasons but insisted it is the DBKL's policy. That will make things more difficult as I will need a cartographer to do it and it will be very costly. However they told me they can help and took me to see somebody who can produce such maps per DBKL's specs. I ask them how much and they said "tak banyak, berapa ratus sahaja" Knowing what they are up to I did not want to continue, came home and bought a map of KL from MPH and got the drawing done, but obviously not accepted. My argument with them that the previous owner had the restaurant licensed for umpteen years and why does DBKL needs all this again when there was no change at all to the restaurant and their reply was there is a change of policy. After several calls and reaching their director, I finally got a temporary license. Come next year when the license was due for renewal I face a similar problem. This time I told them that I had done my part and if they insist on those unreasonable syarat syarat, you are at liberty to take me to court and I will know what to do. Knowing that they are knocking against a concrete wall and definitely not worth the while to pursue, they finally told me that they will draw the plan for me and approved it. I got my license all right but whether such plan is drawn or not, I am not sure.

Case no. 2.

A few months ago (I think was in Sept 2007) I wanted to rent a shop house in Brickfields to open a Restaurant. At the back of the restaurant is a piece of empty land which belongs to the shop and I was told by the owner that I can put up a temporary structure for my cook area. I then approached DBKL with the plan of the temporary building. To cut a long story short I was told in the same row a few doors away a restaurant had been fined for RM6000 for putting up a similar structure without approval. The guidelines are simple, you got to have an architect to sign the plan and together with the tenancy agreement, you can only then submit your application. Looks fair but the catch is there, the plan will take 2 to 3 months to be approved. So you are in a catch 22 situation as once the tenancy is signed rental has commenced and the rental is RM8100/month x 2 months will be RM16,200. What if it takes 3 months? So are we prepared to sit down for 2 - 3 months paying rental awaiting approval? However they had got a miracle cure for this. They had a friend who can help and this friend is so precise in knowing what DBKL wants and who to see will be of intense help as the plan can be approved within a week. But again there is another catch here. The quotation which he gave me through fax is simply too exorbitant, RM4900 over and that I have to draw my own plan and his job is to sign the plan and to see the relevant authorities which he claimed is handled by 3 departments. The price looks ideal because it is cheaper than the fine and cheaper than the 2 months rent. Beautiful strategy, but it is not going to work on me. I did not hesitate to give up the idea. I am not only selling my soul, but will be a moron to accept the deal because I have to pay RM4900 over just to get the plan signed and hand it over to the relevant authorities for a extension job that cost just about the same but the poor contractor will have to sweat it out for days to get a fraction of that.

Dear Tricia, from the 2 scenarios, isn’t it obvious that they have re-engineered the mode of taking bribes. Well if that can happen to me, what about foreigners who want to invest here? If I can run away, the foreigners will run twice as fast as me.

PEMUDAH and whatever complaints bureau set up by the Government will be of little use, if the Government is not prepared to subscribe to the universal ideology of good governance and meritocracy. I think I am not far from wrong as what I had written some months ago in my blog here on “Will judiciary and ACA be reformed or remain deformed”. (http://towardsgoodgovernance.blogspot.com/). Hire and Fire is a universal acceptance but in the Malaysian civil service it is alien and we can understand why, Because they are fearful of being judged the same standard and that is why we never hear of any minister resigning in spite of numerous blunders or involved in corrupt practices.