Kosmo 26 Ogos 2008
KUALA LUMPUR - Seramai 12,000 pembantu rumah warga asing dilaporkan lari daripada majikan pada tahun lepas berpunca daripada perbuatan sindiket.
Timbalan Menteri Dalam Negeri, Datuk Chor Chee Heung berkata, kerajaan telah mengesan sindiket berkenaan dan sedang mengambil tindakan tegas terhadap mereka.
"Kerajaan juga akan mengesan pembantu rumah asing yang lari dan mereka akan diusir ke negara asal," katanya pada sidang Dewan Rakyat semalam.
Chee Heung berkata, masalah pembantu rumah asing yang lari bukan saja menyebabkan majikan dikenakan denda malah ia juga memberikan masalah kepada kerajaan.
Katanya, Jabatan Imigresen telah bermesyuarat dengan Persatuan Agensi Pembantu Rumah Asing bagi menetapkan jumlah bayaran yuran pengambilan pembantu rumah yang munasabah tetapi Indonesia sebagai 'negara sumber' tidak bersetuju dengan kadar bayaran yang cadangkan.
"Buat masa ini saya dapati bayaran adalah antara RM3,000 dan RM5,000 termasuk levi yang akan dibayar kepada kerajaan.
"Kalau di antara RM2,000 dan RM2,500 saya rasa munasabah," katanya.
Sementara itu, Persatuan Pembantu Rumah Asing Malaysia (Papa) menjelaskan bahawa tawaran gaji lumayan oleh sindiket yang didalangi rakyat tempatan dan warga asing yang telah mendapat taraf penduduk tetap (PR) merupakan antara faktor ramai pembantu rumah asing lari daripada majikan.
Malah Presidennya, Datuk Zulkepley Dahalan mendakwa, sindiket terbabit sejak kebelakangan ini memang rancak mencari dan memujuk pembantu rumah asing untuk dijual kepada majikan lain tanpa melalui agensi.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Choice of Hourly Maid Service
Tuesday July 1, 2008By NG SU-ANN and LOOI SUE-CHERNMORE
More People in Penang are opting to hire maids by the hour since the fees for full-time ones skyrocketed.Housewife Quah Lean Hong, 49, said she used to have a full-time maid for five years.“However, when the maid returned to Indonesia in July last year, we decided that a cheaper option was to hire a part-time maid.“We arrange for her to come in every Saturday since she’s already familiar with our house and general cleaning chores,” said the mother of three.Quah said she was now paying the agent RM40 for four hours per visit, adding that she would hire the maid for a whole day (eight hours) for spring-cleaning before Chinese New Year.Retired restaurant operator Rebecca Tan, 56, also said an hourly-paid maid was a wiser alternative as it was simply too costly to hire a full-time housemaid nowadays.“Although my agent has increased the charge for four-hour maid service from RM40 to RM42, I don't mind paying the extra money.“When I was running the restaurant years ago, I had a full-time maid to help me out. However, I had to bring with me everywhere. I also had to buy food, clothes and other necessities for her,” added the grandmother who is staying in an apartment in Island Park.Last week, Association of Foreign Housemaids Agencies (Papa) president Datuk Raja Zulkepley Dahalan warned that employers might soon have to fork out up to RM8,000 to hire an Indonesian maid.Maid agencies currently charge RM7,500 for each maid brought in from Indonesia compared with the RM6,000 fee charged early last year.Businessman Desmond Fernandez said he paid about RM4,000 for a housemaid in 2000.“Although she’s not perfect, I have learnt to live with her faults. I can’t afford to hire a new one these days,” he said.An agent who wanted to be identified as Lim said she had been supplying part-time maids for nine years and she paid more than RM9,000 to hire Indonesian maids from the agents there.“The ones benefiting from the fee increase are the agents. They take advantage of not only their customers but also of Indonesians seeking a better life in Malaysia,” he said.
More People in Penang are opting to hire maids by the hour since the fees for full-time ones skyrocketed.Housewife Quah Lean Hong, 49, said she used to have a full-time maid for five years.“However, when the maid returned to Indonesia in July last year, we decided that a cheaper option was to hire a part-time maid.“We arrange for her to come in every Saturday since she’s already familiar with our house and general cleaning chores,” said the mother of three.Quah said she was now paying the agent RM40 for four hours per visit, adding that she would hire the maid for a whole day (eight hours) for spring-cleaning before Chinese New Year.Retired restaurant operator Rebecca Tan, 56, also said an hourly-paid maid was a wiser alternative as it was simply too costly to hire a full-time housemaid nowadays.“Although my agent has increased the charge for four-hour maid service from RM40 to RM42, I don't mind paying the extra money.“When I was running the restaurant years ago, I had a full-time maid to help me out. However, I had to bring with me everywhere. I also had to buy food, clothes and other necessities for her,” added the grandmother who is staying in an apartment in Island Park.Last week, Association of Foreign Housemaids Agencies (Papa) president Datuk Raja Zulkepley Dahalan warned that employers might soon have to fork out up to RM8,000 to hire an Indonesian maid.Maid agencies currently charge RM7,500 for each maid brought in from Indonesia compared with the RM6,000 fee charged early last year.Businessman Desmond Fernandez said he paid about RM4,000 for a housemaid in 2000.“Although she’s not perfect, I have learnt to live with her faults. I can’t afford to hire a new one these days,” he said.An agent who wanted to be identified as Lim said she had been supplying part-time maids for nine years and she paid more than RM9,000 to hire Indonesian maids from the agents there.“The ones benefiting from the fee increase are the agents. They take advantage of not only their customers but also of Indonesians seeking a better life in Malaysia,” he said.
Proposal recruitment domestic helpers
Sunday August 3, 2008By PAUL GABRIELKUALA LUMPUR:
Indonesia will propose amended terms for the recruitment of its domestic helpers, who form the largest number of foreign maids in the country.Topping the list will be higher wages and time off for them. A proper mechanism will also be sought to resolve disputes between the helpers and their employers.The amendments to a labour memorandum of understanding signed between both countries in 2006 involving domestic helpers will be presented at a coming consultation between both sides that Malaysia will host.The Indonesians wanted to set a minimum wage of RM500 for their domestic helpers then, but agreed to back down after this condition was rejected by Malaysia.Indonesian domestic helpers, who number about 300,000 here, are mostly being paid between RM400 and RM500 monthly. An Indonesian embassy official said the latest wage increase being sought would likely be between RM50 and RM100. Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia Da’i Bachtiar, who confirmed the amendments, said the rising cost of living had also affected Indonesians working in Malaysia.“If costs are rising here due to higher fuel prices and food prices are going up, then our workers too should be entitled to what is deemed fit by the Malaysian Government,” he told The Star in an interview.Bachtiar, the republic's former national police chief who was posted here in May, said time off was also being sought.“We also want a system in place whereby if an employer accuses workers of any wrongdoing the issue will be handled with fairness,” he added.On the high fees being paid to agents by employers seeking Indonesian domestic helpers, despite Malaysia capping recruiting and processing fees for such workers at RM2, 415 in 2006, Bachtiar said he agreed that Indonesian agents were “asking too much.”He said many Indonesian agents also did not train domestic helpers for the chores they were expected to do here.“What I am going to do to such agents is to get Jakarta to blacklist them. We will ask Malaysian agents for feedback as to who the errant agents on our side are. We will pass this information to the authorities in Jakarta,” he added.
Indonesia will propose amended terms for the recruitment of its domestic helpers, who form the largest number of foreign maids in the country.Topping the list will be higher wages and time off for them. A proper mechanism will also be sought to resolve disputes between the helpers and their employers.The amendments to a labour memorandum of understanding signed between both countries in 2006 involving domestic helpers will be presented at a coming consultation between both sides that Malaysia will host.The Indonesians wanted to set a minimum wage of RM500 for their domestic helpers then, but agreed to back down after this condition was rejected by Malaysia.Indonesian domestic helpers, who number about 300,000 here, are mostly being paid between RM400 and RM500 monthly. An Indonesian embassy official said the latest wage increase being sought would likely be between RM50 and RM100. Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia Da’i Bachtiar, who confirmed the amendments, said the rising cost of living had also affected Indonesians working in Malaysia.“If costs are rising here due to higher fuel prices and food prices are going up, then our workers too should be entitled to what is deemed fit by the Malaysian Government,” he told The Star in an interview.Bachtiar, the republic's former national police chief who was posted here in May, said time off was also being sought.“We also want a system in place whereby if an employer accuses workers of any wrongdoing the issue will be handled with fairness,” he added.On the high fees being paid to agents by employers seeking Indonesian domestic helpers, despite Malaysia capping recruiting and processing fees for such workers at RM2, 415 in 2006, Bachtiar said he agreed that Indonesian agents were “asking too much.”He said many Indonesian agents also did not train domestic helpers for the chores they were expected to do here.“What I am going to do to such agents is to get Jakarta to blacklist them. We will ask Malaysian agents for feedback as to who the errant agents on our side are. We will pass this information to the authorities in Jakarta,” he added.
Monday, August 4, 2008
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