In 2022, I went to Malaysia for research work, focusing on Filipino migrant workers, despite not knowing anyone from my home country. However, Filipinos are generally warm and generous, and it didn’t take long before I was welcomed into a migrant Filipino community in Malaysia. Most Filipino workers I encountered were domestic helpers and caregivers, while some were factory workers, call center agents, or professionals like NGO workers.
These workers, predominantly women aged 35-45 with children back home, shared that they left the Philippines due to the lack of well-paying jobs necessary to support their families and educate their children. Their stories resonated deeply with me as my mother worked away in Saudi Arabia for 25 years. Disturbingly, a 2023 ILO study titled “Skilled to care, forced to work?” revealed that a third of migrant domestic helpers in Malaysia work under forced labor conditions, with Malaysia having 29% of surveyed workers in such conditions, compared to 9% in Singapore and 7% in Thailand. These findings were confirmed by the
stories of Filipina domestic helpers I met over the past two years.
Conditions Of Forced Labor
“Skilled to Care, Forced to Work?”
I met Rose* by chance, as I was scouring the market for souvenirs to take back home. She works as a saleslady at a market in a big city in Malaysia. She earns extra through commissions, and work was not too bad. But a couple of years before, she had a harrowing experience as a domestic helper.
The ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) defined forced labour as “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself [or herself] voluntarily”.
In Malaysia, the survey results indicate high levels of isolation and restriction on migrant domestic workers’ freedoms, including freedom of movement and freedom to change employer.
“My employer required me to iron clothes first, then wash the cars. There were five cars in the household. This was my work for 2-3 weeks. I wasn’t able to take it, I had palpitations and I got sick… I decided to run-away, together with another Filipina domestic worker in the same house. I tried to find work and had odd-jobs here and there. But after a while, I got arrested. In the end, I was returned to my employer, where I worked to pay back what was paid to the police”
Long Hours, Denial Of Rest Days And Being Made to Work Outside The Employers’ Residence
Kamia* used to be a factory worker back in the Philippines. But pay was low and work was irregular. She went to Malaysia and found work in an establishment where pay was below national minimum wage. She went back home and considered staying for good. But since she’s the family breadwinner, she decided to go back to Malaysia and look for other employment. She’s now working as domestic helper to a family.
Domestic workers like Kamia, even if they are documented, are precluded from enjoying the right to minimum wage, social security or any other rights granted under Malaysian labour laws. Domestic workers’ rights are not recognized by the Employment Act of 1955, which intended to protect them. As a matter of fact, they are classified as servants, maids and helpers which are excluded from key protections legally granted to other workers.
No Social Mobility
Kamia and Briar currently enjoy good working relations with their employers. Relationships of trust that they themselves built through the years of hard and valuable work. But it cannot be denied that because they are domestic helpers, they have less in law and do not get the rights and freedoms due to workers like them. They are more vulnerable to abuse such as long hours of work, denial of days-off or rest days, and working outside the confines of their employers’ residence. Though they earn a little above the minimum wage of Malaysia (RM 1,500 since 2022), this cannot compensate for the lack of rights and freedoms as workers.
“The hours I work inside the house is quite longer than other places, where work is fixed at 8 hours a day. That’s the negative
side of housework.” Kamia narrated.
Violation Of International Law
Another domestic helpers, Gia and Dahlia, also have issues with rest days or days-off, as well as working outside the confines of the employers’ residences.
Dahlia narrated that: “I was 31 years old when I arrived in Malaysia. I have been working with my employers for 8 years now. They are kind and work is relaxed. But the down side is that my day-off is only once a month, because my employers bring me to their friends, and sometimes I also work for their friends, though with pay. But this is risky because it is prohibited.”
Despite the lack of days-off and risk involved in working in other houses, Dahlia and other domestic workers continue working under difficult and risky circumstances to keep their jobs. Gia, another domestic worker, has a similar story.
“I went to Malaysia in 2014, and I have been with my current employers for 9 years. They paid for my travel and work documents, I didn’t spend for anything. So I did everything to gain their trust. At first, I had no day-off. But when they saw the quality of my work and how I take care of their kids, I was endeared to them. My employers used to have a factory. They take me there to work, and I used to move and lift heavy boxes of products. But then I got sick, maybe from all those heavy lifting. They paid for my medication and didn’t force me to work after that.” Gia claimed.