It is not only worrying but shameful that the Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil comes out to condemn the minimum wage of RM800 for Indonesian domestic workers.

My immediate reaction is: YB Shahrizat, can you live well with less than RM800? If you honestly can say yes, then let us learn from your wisdom.

If domestic workers are so important to the economic development of our country, why then do we show so little respect, refuse to accord them their rights?

rafidah shahrizat wanita umno mt pwtc 021208 shahrizat Or as a minister are you saying that it is morally correct to build our economy on slavery of other women?

And if you believe that our Malaysian women should go out to work to strengthen our economy, don't you think as a minister for women's affairs, you should ensure good wages for our women so that they can afford a decent wage for decent work for their domestic workers.

Where have you been?

Have you not seen how enslaved and abusive conditions the domestic workers have worked in Malaysia?

Have you forgotten Nurul, Nirmala and hundreds or maybe thousands of others who have been beaten, bruised, battered?

Where there total dignity has been brutally destroyed, many raped in our own homes; where many worked like slaves for over 18 hours a day with little food?

A class bias

Have you forgotten our commitment to combat trafficking in persons especially women and children?

One of the key issues has been the way we recruit and employ our domestic workers that has led to bonded labour which is a form of trafficking in persons.

YB Shahrizat, your resistance to a decent wage for domestic workers who are mainly women, reveals a class bias in your protecting women.

Indonesian domestic helpers maids 2 At the end of the day, what you state is that it is fine to exploit, abuse, use violence, deny rights, deny decent wage, deny decent lives for over half a million domestic workers in our country as long as the Malaysian economy flourishes!

What a value system to promote in our families, in our communities and in our nation.

If we believe in justice, in a decent life for all, in equality of women, then the wages must be decent for domestic workers. The decent wage in the form of a minimum living wage must now transcend to Malaysians as well.

Mothers and fathers should not hold two or three jobs for a decent living. It just destroys family life.

All of us must have a decent work with a decent wage for a better quality of life.

IRENE FERNANDEZ is the director and co-founder of the non-governmental organization Tenaganita which promotes the rights of migrant workers and other oppressed and poor people in Malaysia.