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Kuala Lumpur. Lena Udin, an Indonesian maid in her late 40s, thinks for a while and in a calm manner says: “No problem at all. I have worked for three employers [in Malaysia]. No problems.”

Amid the many reports of Indonesian maids being abused by their Malaysian employers, Lena had been asked why she was happy working in Malaysia and whether she had been mistreated by her employers.

“What is important is [we must] always love,” she said. “There must be understanding between maids and employers.”

Lena is one of the 300,000 Indonesia migrants working legally in Malaysia.

The meeting with Lena was held at the residence of her employers, Mohd Izaree Azman, 29, and Raja Nur Azila Raja Kamaruzaman, 30, at Pesona Villa, Ampang-Hulu Klang, near Kuala Lumpur. It was arranged by her employers’ father.

Saying that not all Malaysian employers were bad, Lena, from Medan, North Sumatra, said her employers had treated her like family since she started working in the household last November.

“Bapak Izaree and Ibu Azila do not think of me as a servant but family,” the mother of three said while cradling her employers’ son, Megat Iskandar, 3.

Lena said Izaree was her third employer since she came to the country about 11 years ago to help her husband support their family in Medan.

Before this, Lena worked for Malay families in Batu Caves, Selangor, a southern state in peninsular Malaysia, and in Kuantan, Pahang, on the east coast of the country.

With monthly wages of 400 ringgit 400 ($115), Lena said her main duty was to care for her employers’ two sons, Megat Iskandar and Megat Irfan, who is 9-months old, besides doing household chores.

“The question of wages is also simple. Izaree gives me a choice of receiving my pay personally, sending it to Indonesia or depositing it in a Maybank account,” said Lena, who shares a room with her young charges.

Lena, who can speak English, is also given days off upon request and always uses them to visit her older sister in Bangi.

She said she did not believe that any religious person, particularly a Muslim, would mistreat others.

“I cannot believe the treatment can be so cruel. If given pork to eat, that is cruel, because for Muslims even touching a pig is forbidden, what more being forced to eat it,” she said, voicing sympathy for a maid from West Java, Siti Hajar, who was allegedly abused by her employer over the course of three years.

Siti’s employer was arrested after the maid managed to escape, with the help of a taxi driver, and file a police complaint. A case of abuse is pending against the employer.

In 2004, Indonesian maid Nirmala Bonat, who was abused by her employer, Yim Pek Ha, received extensive media coverage. The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court sentenced Yim to 18 years in prison last November. Yim is appealing.

Selaseh, 48, originally from Java, has no reason to flee from her employer in Chemor, Perak. The mother of three said this was because her employer, Naimah Mohd Dahlan, 66, treated her like one of her own children.

Happy with being called “Kak Seh” and calling her employer “Mak Su,” she came to Malaysia seven years ago.

“From November 2003 until now I have stayed with Mak Su, not wanting to move anywhere as there are no problems between us,” said Selaseh, who is responsible for household chores and going to the market.

Selaseh said Naimah also allowed her husband, Mohd Iskandar, 50, a construction worker, to visit her whenever he wanted. She said he came to Malaysia about 12 years ago, before she followed six years later, so they could support their three children.

Naimah said everyone had to stand up against the abuse of domestic helpers. “If we can love a cat like family, what about human beings? Don’t all religions forbid us to mistreat others?”

Antara