Malaysia - Malaysia's childcare in crisis

A recent spate of reports on child abuse and deaths in Malaysian childcare centres has provoked outrage, with stakeholders pointing fingers at one another for the glut of illegal centres.

The latest incident occurred last week, when two female caretakers from a Johor centre uploaded a video onto YouTube that showed nine babies they had tightly wrapped in cloth. One baby's mouth was taped up.

The caretakers initially said they had done this to keep the babies quiet, but later claimed it was to defame the centre, after the operator fired them.

In January, two babies died in Kuala Lumpur under the care of caretakers. They were suspected to have been fed spoilt milk.

Police are investigating both cases, which occurred in unlicensed childcare centres.

Last year, five children died in unlicensed childcare centres. While it is illegal to operate such centres without a licence, more than two-thirds of the 3,200 remain unlicensed, according to the national Social Welfare Department (JKM), which issues these licences.

Unlicensed childcare centres can be forced to close down, or fined 10,000 ringgit (US$3,300), or their owners can be jailed for up to two years.

Last year, six unlicensed centres were closed down, but many others continue to operate partly because of the lack of policing from the authorities, as well as the high demand for such centres.

These centres, which take in children up to four years old, are often the only option for families with two working parents. Grandparents are not always able to help, and there are simply not enough licensed childcare centres around, parents say.

"In some neighbourhoods, the nearest childcare centres to your home might all be unlicensed," said housewife Lisa Seet, 32.

The issue has been exacerbated by the ban on new Indonesian maids, imposed by Jakarta since 2009 in response to cases of maid abuse.

Unlicensed centres also tend to charge lower prices, said Seet, who has been hunting for a suitable childcare centre while she prepares to return to the workforce. The registered centres she has visited charge up to 1,000 ringgit ($333) a month, while unregistered ones might cost less than half of that.

Licensed childcare centres must employ only caretakers who have gone through a 17-day training course to get a JKM certificate in basic childcare. The ratio of caretakers to children must be kept at one to five, or one to 10, depending on the age of the children.

Before JKM issues the licence for the centre, the premises must also get approvals from the local council, the fire safety department and the Health Ministry. Total fees for certification range from hundreds to thousands of ringgit, depending on which state the centre is operating in.

"Many centres find it too hard to navigate the fees and rules imposed by three different agencies," said Hanim Mahfudz, executive director of the Association of Registered Childcare Providers Malaysia. One operator, in a letter to a local newspaper's forum page, likened the paperwork to "writing a doctoral dissertation". Follow-ups with the agencies can take years, he said.

The situation - coupled with the lack of enforcement manpower - also explains the softer approach taken by the authorities, despite some parents demanding stricter policing.

"We will not shut them down immediately if they are not registered because we would rather give them a deadline to comply with the conditions," said Zaitol Salleh, director of JKM's legal and advocacy division. "Based on experience and feedback, they want to be registered but face complications in meeting the conditions."

The authorities are working to bridge the gap by forming a one-stop centre, to allow previously long-drawn registrations to be done within a day or two. JKM, which has been going on a registration drive for childcare centres, also hopes to register another 800 centres by the end of this year.

"Ultimately, our prime concern should be the children, and to make sure parents have a safe place to send them to," said Hanim.

Teo Cheng Wee

The Straits Times

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