Unfortunately, life as a maid is by no means gratifying.

Let's ponder over this state of affairs. When hiring a foreign maid, an employer usually pays the agency RM1,200 (in the case of an Indonesian), towards the maid's initial expenses for obtaining a passport and her travel expenses initially incurred by the agency.

This amounts to about a three-month salary and is deducted from the maid's annual income by the employer. The levy imposed on the worker is RM445 a year. Some employers would pass this cost on to the maid.

If there is going to be health insurance for the maid, this amount would most probably be deducted from the maid's salary too. Then comes the yearly medical check-up that comes to about RM190. This, too, may end up making the maid poorer.

The maid would be exceptionally lucky if her employer does not pass on all these expenses to her.

Otherwise, at the end of the day, she would end up earning about RM300 a month or less, which works out to be about RM10 a day. Not many locals would want to work for this salary.

The maid is usually swamped with scores of household chores - she cleans the house, scrubs and mops the floor, does the laundry, irons the clothes, takes care of the children, washes the cars, does the gardening, works in the kitchen and also in some instances, washes and feeds the animals.

Some maids are made to work in more than one premise. Some are made to sleep in the storeroom. Some wake up before sunrise and sometimes retire past midnight. On top of that, there is no weekly or annual leave.

If a maid falls sick and becomes unfit to work, she will be dumped like an incapacitated horse. Their plight, regrettably, remain for them to put up with as they do not have many avenues to complain about their grievances.

These maids have come from afar, leaving their loved ones, to earn a decent living in our country. Many are young and uneducated. They shower their love on our little ones, while their very own are left for others to attend to in their homeland.

So, let's be more compassionate and considerate. It's not race or creed but humanity that brings the world together. Why can't we treat maids like ordinary mortals that have feelings and dignity?

Let's not demand too much from these souls but treat them with love and kindness just like we do our own family members. Make them happy to be with us.

If we were to show a caring and positive attachment to them, it would be unlikely that they would desert us.

Besides that, we do not need so many rules and regulations that make the hiring of foreign maids such a cumbersome practice. When there are too many rules and regulations in a society then something must be wrong with its people.

If we are not happy with their performance as maids in anyway, then we should let them go in a polite and civilised manner. Why the resentment and the torture?

We cannot expect everything in life to conform to our proclivity and needs. And after all, we do lose a lot of possessions in life in many other unlikable ways.