Do probation, background checks on maids Rohani

by Lim How Pim, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on March 2, 2014, Sunday

KUCHING: The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development wants all maid-recruiting agencies to do background checks and impose a probation on domestic helpers.

This is to enhance the safety and welfare of children, said Minister Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim who cited the recent case in Kuala Lumpur where two children were believed killed by their maid before her suicide, which serves as a wake-up call for all parents to be wary of domestic helpers, as well as the child care centre they were sending their children to.

Like in the employment market in which a three-month probation is practised, the same should be introduced and practised by maid-recruiting agencies in Malaysia. By so doing, we can at least get to observe the character and behaviour of the maid.

Maid-recruiting agencies should also check the background of foreign maids. This is so important to ensure the safety of our children, she told reporters after the swearing-in of Head of State Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud at the State Legislative Assembly Complex in Petra Jaya here yesterday.

After the KL incident, Rohani said the ministry had offered counselling for the traumatised parents so that they could stay emotionally stable to facilitate police investigation.

We are very sad about the incident and we have offered counselling for the parents who are still in trauma. The sooner they receive counselling the better it is for them to face what comes their way especially when asked to assist in police investigation.

But it seems that they are not ready for the counselling, but we are ready to reach out.

Rohani also called on all employers of domestic helpers to pay due attention to the mental health of recruited individuals.

She believed a person who had either violent or suicidal tendencies would portray unusual behaviour or acts, which ought to be detected to prevent untoward incidents.

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Do probation, background checks on maids Rohani