A Maid's Life

There is much talk about maid abuse in the news lately. For a change, the authorities should come and interview my maid to see what a good life some Indonesian maids have in Malaysia.

My maid basically works 3 days a week when she comes down to clean the office. The rest of the week she stays home.

When she is at home she normally finishes her chores by noon. There is not much for her to do because there are only the two of us and we stay in an apartment.

We are away at the office the whole day so she has the whole house to herself. We also eat out so there is no cooking to be done.

We allow her to go to the market to purchase whatever she requires for her daily meals which she cooks for herself. By 8.30pm she is already resting in her room.

She also carries a handphone which we gave her so she could keep in touch with her family back home.

She has so much free time that she has been buying books to read and has built up a small library. In that sense she has more leisure time than me and she could have studied for a diploma or certificate given the amount of free time she has.

I believe my maid has earned the freedom we give her. Freedom comes with responsibility. Much of the fears of employers stem from the horror stories they have heard.

We have had a maid run away while under the employment of my mother-in-law. This was the maid before this present one. Under normal circumstances most people would have come down hard and put the new maid on a short leash but that would be grossly unfair to make her pay for the sins of another.

We decided to keep this maid after my mother-in-law passed away because we found her responsible and dependable but we would not hire another once her contract expires because hiring a maid has now become a very expensive and high-risk venture.