Immigration Department director-general Mustafar Ali said the Online Application for Foreign Domestic Maid (SMO) system had been in place since Jan 1.

“Employers with a record will be barred from hiring foreign workers,” he told the New Straits Times.

It is compulsory for Malaysians who want to recruit domestic help from the nine permitted source countries to register themselves through the system.

The immigration database is also linked to those of other government agencies.

The system will red-flag those with criminal records, bankrupts and those who fail to show proof that they will be good paymasters.

Mustafar said potential employers would also be assessed on whether they will provide maids with a conducive living environment.

He said the safeguards outlined in the SMO system were also clearly spelt out in the standard agreement that both maids and applicants sign prior to employment.

The SMO system also addresses the issue of insurance protection.

Meanwhile, Mustafar said incidents of abuse of foreign maids were isolated cases.

Commenting on the case of Indonesian maid Adelina Lisao, 21, who died following alleged abuse and mistreatment by her employer, Mustafar said it did not reflect the overall conditions of working in Malaysia as a foreigner.

“This is not Malaysia,” he said.

Adelina died in Penang earlier this month after she was allegedly abused by her employer.

Malaysians were shocked by the case, in which Adelina was forced to sleep outside with a dog.

She is believed to have been physically abused, and died after being admitted to the hospital.

Her 60-year-old employer has been charged with murder while in Indonesia, two people have been arrested on human trafficking charges for allegedly using fake documents to send her abroad.

The employer’s daughter was also charged with hiring Adelina despite knowing that she had no valid work permit.