IV. Abuses in Malaysia

I feel like I was blessed with a new life when I returned to Cambodia. Malaysia was like a prison for me.

—Lay Lim, a 31-year-old domestic worker who migrated to Malaysia to support her disabled brother and elderly parents, was regularly beaten and denied food by her employers.  Kampong Cham province, Cambodia, April 2011

Cambodian women and girls risk a range of abuses and forms of exploitation in Malaysia, including excessively long hours of work with no rest days, non-payment of wages, poor living conditions, including food deprivation, psychological, physical, and sexual abuse, and restrictions on freedom of movement and communication. Some workers may be trafficked into situations of forced labor.

Not all domestic workers suffer abuse. Human Rights Watch interviewed Cambodian domestic workers who had positive employment experiences in Malaysia and plan to renew their contracts. We spoke to workers who said their employers treated them well, paid them on time, and allowed them to remain in touch with their families. However, gaps in Malaysia’s labor laws mean there are few minimum standards and a domestic worker’s employment conditions depend on the discretion of her employer. When cases of abuse do occur, domestic workers have little recourse for protection from the Malaysian government.  

The Cambodian embassy in Malaysia told Human Rights Watch that they have received “around 50 to 60 cases” of physical abuse, including cases of “minor” abuse such as slapping and around five cases of sexual abuse of Cambodian women between January and April 2011.[141] Tenaganita, the Malaysian migrants’ rights NGO, reported that it handled 41 cases of abuse of Cambodian domestic workers between January and August 2011. In all these cases, the passports were held by their employers, they were not given a single rest day, and all of them were “overworked” with 42 percent made to work illegally in two different premises.[142] Among Tenaganita’s caseload, 56 percent reported physical abuse, 20 percent reported sexual abuse, and 25 percent were malnourished due to food deprivation.[143]

Unfamiliarity with their legal rights and limited ability to communicate in English or Malay exacerbates workers’ vulnerability in Malaysia. Many workers lack basic information, such as on the payment of their salary or whom to approach for help if they face abuse. A Cambodian embassy official told Human Rights Watch that, “When the women run away and come to the embassy, it is often a challenge to track their agents and employers as most of them don’t even know or remember the names of their employer, agent [or] their addresses.”[144]

None of the workers Human Rights Watch interviewed received a copy of their employment contract in Malaysia, although they said that they were made to sign or thumbprint several documents by their recruitment agents in Malaysia. Many of them were unaware of the content of the contract either because it was written in English or they were not allowed to read it. Neoun Khun Thear, a domestic worker, said, “At the end of every month I was asked to sign a document. I could not read it as it was written in English and Chinese. When I asked for my salary, madam told me that I don’t need to know that. I did not get any money for 19 months.”[145]

When workers flee from their employers’ homes to escape abusive conditions, they have few avenues to seek redress or shelter (discussed further in chapter VI). Workers may turn to their local agents, who are often their only point of contact. While some agencies make their best effort to assist the workers, others intimidate and abuse workers for leaving their employers.[146]

Unpaid Wages

According to an official at the Cambodian Ministry of Labor, under-payment or non-payment of wages and physical abuse are the most common complaints the ministry receives from returned domestic workers.[147] None of the domestic workers interviewed for this report received their full salary while most said they received wages that were much lower than what was promised by their labor agent. These women worked for periods ranging from three months to two years.

Most of the women interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they were not paid on a monthly basis but were told either by agents or employers that they would be paid at the end of their two-year contract. Some workers reported that their employers deducted from their salary expenses for items such as broken dishes, soap, shampoo, and medical treatment if they needed to see a doctor. Others reported that they did not receive their full salary because their employers refused to pay them or made unreasonable deductions.

Cambodian domestic workers are usually promised a monthly salary of 400 to 600 Malaysian ringgit ($133 to $200), a wage lower than the amount workers from other countries typically receive. For example Filipina domestic workers are the highest paid foreign domestic workers, receiving about $400 a month. Human Rights Watch interviewed workers whose agents told them that they would receive their salary only at the end of their two-year contract and after a six-month salary deduction, and sometimes instructed them not to ask for their salary from their employers. For example, Tu Kim, who migrated to Malaysia to support her eight siblings, said she had not received any salary for two years of work: “My agent in Cambodia told me not to ask for a salary. My agent in Cambodia said that I would be paid at the end of [the] two-year period and I was scared to ask for my salary.”[148] 

Pong Shou, a 19-year-old woman from Kampong Cham province, went to Malaysia as a domestic worker in September 2009.  She worked from 6:30 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m. for 10 months. She never received a salary. She said, “When I asked for my salary and passport, madam told me that I have to work in her shop. She threatened to sell me to another person if I refused. When I resisted and asked her to take me to my agent, she locked me inside a room and didn’t give me any food for a week. I survived by eating food given [to me by] my neighbor.”[149]

Pong Shou contacted her agent for help who then sent her to work for a second employer. She was beaten by her second employer, after which she ran away from the house. Afraid to go to her agent, she went to a police station. The police took her to the Cambodian embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and although an embassy official promised to help recover her salary, he sent Pong to her agent, assuring her she would be repatriated to Cambodia within a week. However, the agent did not send her back to Cambodia and made her work without pay in his mother’s house for six months. Pong managed to escape from the agent’s house and went back to the Cambodian embassy for assistance. This time, the embassy sent her to an NGO shelter.[150]

When Human Rights Watch interviewed her, she had been unable to return to Cambodia as she had no money for a return ticket and had not been paid for almost 19 months. At the time of this writing, the NGO in Malaysia was working with the Cambodian embassy to recover her salary.[151]

Physical, Sexual and Psychological Abuse

One day, my female employer got very angry and tried to stab my neck with a knife. Fortunately, her husband stopped her. During that time, she tore my passport and said that she would not pay me even if I worked for two years.

—Ang Vanna, domestic worker, Pursat province, Cambodia, 2011

Among the 28 women interviewed by Human Rights Watch, almost half reported that they experienced some form of physical or psychological abuse. They said their employers kicked and slapped them, pulled their hair, pinched them, shaved their heads, threw food at them, including hot soup, and beat them severely.  Some said their employers pushed them downstairs or stabbed them with knives.

They described their employers beating them with wooden planks, tree branches, broomsticks, iron bars, and wires even for small “errors” in their work. Lay Lim described her experience in Malaysia: “One day my employer asked me to bring a bowl and I did not understand and brought a plate. Sir got very angry, took off his belt and hit me everywhere on my body. Sometimes, I had to hold a heavy iron chair and kneel down for an hour. This was the punishment I would get three times every week for my mistakes. When I cried, they used to say that I am stupid, crazy and lazy.”[152] In one case, a domestic worker attempted to kill herself, citing continued psychological and physical abuse.[153]

Vann Tevy, 29, said, “Madam beat me with wooden planks on my legs and thighs. She shouted and scolded me all the time for being slow. When she got really angry, she used to stab me with a knife on my fingers.”[154]

Women domestic workers, with whom Human Rights Watch spoke, typically did not receive access to health care if they sustained injuries after beatings. Some said they received medical care only after they were rescued by the NGOs. Some bore the scars of abuse. Women also faced verbal insults. Employers insulted, shouted, scolded, belittled and sometimes threatened them with death or physical harm. Neoun Khun Thear recalled that her employer humiliated her every day by calling her a “fool” and “unlucky” and insulting her: “My male boss would say that my face is so ugly that no man would sleep with me. He used to say this all the time and I used to cry a lot.”[155]

Three of the women Human Rights Watch interviewed had been raped either by their employer or men on the streets when they ran away from their employer’s home. In one case, a domestic worker was raped by her employer.[156] Chey Malis, a 36-year-old domestic worker, escaped from the home of an abusive employer and was gang-raped by five men when she was living under a bridge. She said, “The five men held me. They were carrying a knife. One of them took off my clothes. When I tried to stop him, another man punched me on my ear. I felt dizzy. Then they hurt me.”[157] Unable to find help and with nowhere to go, she ended up living in a jungle for three months without any support, surviving on garbage and wild fruit.

The number of Cambodian migrant domestic workers who are sexually abused or harassed is not known, but is likely underreported, not only due to the stigma attached to such abuse, but also to isolation, intimidation by employment agencies, and the lack of accessible complaint mechanisms in Malaysia and Cambodia (See Barriers to Justice in Malaysia and Protection Failures in Cambodia).

Restrictions on Freedom of Movement and Poor Working Conditions

I could never make any calls to my family in Cambodia. My employer told [me] that if I call my family in Cambodia, she would call the police.

—Chun Kolab, domestic worker, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 2011

I used to take care of the children, feed them, clean the house and the garden, wash two cars and help another maid in the kitchen. I would wake up at 5 a.m. in the morning and sleep at 11 p.m. and I never got any rest during the day. I dared not to ask for rest. I was scared.

—Om Chanda, age 19, domestic worker, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 2011

 Cambodian domestic workers said employers confiscated their passports, restricted them inside the workplace or did not allow them to leave the house unsupervised, and prohibited them from talking to the neighbors. Most who spoke to Human Rights Watch reported that their employers prohibited them from remaining in contact with their families in Cambodia. Chang Channy said, “I was not allowed to go to the market alone or even talk to my neighbor. They never allowed me to make calls to my parents in Cambodia. Once my boss saw me talking to someone on the phone while I was answering a call and he shouted at me.”[158]

None of the workers interviewed received any day off in a week or rest breaks between their working hours. Being forced to work long hours is one of the most frequently reported complaints to the Cambodian embassy. The Cambodian ambassador said, “Domestic workers often report that they work…more than 16 hours each day.”[159]

Workers frequently spoke about their employer depriving them of adequate food. Practices reported included offering only small portions of rice or bread without any vegetables, refusing to provide additional food, and in some cases giving them leftover or spoiled food or only one meal per day. Nhon Yanna, a 16-year-old worker at the time of her arrival in Malaysia said, “I was always given food that was left over by my employer’s children. Sometimes, I was given only breakfast and lunch but no dinner, and sometimes, they did not give me any food. An Indonesian domestic worker who lived close to the house used to give me some bread to eat.”[160] Several workers reported that their employers withheld meals as a form of punishment.

Agency-Related Abuses in Malaysia

I saw very bad treatment by the agency staff. I also saw two mentally ill workers being treated badly. One of them was pregnant. When women come for help in the agency, they often beat them badly.

—Chet Mao, age 21, domestic worker, Siem Reap province, Cambodia, April 29, 2011

Some recruiting agents operating in Malaysia maintain tight control over the workers through threats of violence, confiscation of identify documents such as passports, restrictions on communication and ability to return home, and loan arrangements. 

Not knowing where else to turn, workers frequently seek assistance from their recruitment agency in Malaysia. However, Human Rights Watch interviewed several workers whose agency sent them back to work for the same employer or a second employer against their will. One domestic worker, Chet Mao, told us:

One day I threw out a rotten orange without asking my madam. She got [really] angry and threatened to cut my fingers with a knife. I was scared that she would cut my fingers so I asked her to take me back to the agency. She agreed to take me. When I told everything to the agency, they told me that I was wrong and they beat me. They said that I cannot change my employer and I was sent back to the same house. After this, sir and madam started to threaten me more and treated me even more badly.[161] 

Several workers reported that agency staff physically abused them in response to employers complaining about their work performance. Chey Channary, age 17, described her experience with her agent in Malaysia:

When I had a problem, the employer would call the agency. When the employer called the agency, they would come and beat me or slap me. They would say “If you don’t finish [your] two-year contract, you will meet another type of trouble.”[162]

Another domestic worker, Se Nhgon from Siem Reap, ran away from her employer after five months due to regular beatings. She tried to find her agent’s office for assistance, and, unable to locate it, she started working in a flower shop. Two months later, her new employer took her to the agency. She told Human Rights Watch:

When my second employer told my agent that I had ran away from my first employer, a female employee took me to a “counseling” room. There were three male employees and all of them “interviewed” me. One of them asked me questions while the other one hit me. A Khmer trainer was also there. Every time I tried to explain something, they would tell me that I was wrong. They made me stand all day without any food.[163]