Malaysia Hopes Indonesian Maid Issue Can Be Resolved Soon
PENANG, Jan 31 (Bernama) -- Malaysia hope the meeting of the Working Committee on the Recruitment and Placement of Indonesian Maids in February would be able to resolve some outstanding issues said Human Resource Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam.He added that in the mean time, discussions pertaining to maids, would go on between Malaysia and Indonesia."There are one or two outstanding issues, including the issue of wages and freezing of maids from the country. We hope the issues will be resolved soon," he told reporters after launching the Penang MIC service centre here on Sunday.Subramaniam who is also MIC vice president said Malaysia has also opened job opportunities for those from Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Sri Lanka to work as maids."Recently I visited Cambodia and they have a very structured programme for foreign maids, including exposing them to the culture of the respective countries," he said.On June 25 last year, Jakarta had issued a freeze order on maids from the country to Malaysia, following reports of abuse by employers.However, on Sept 2 last year, Malaysia and Indonesia agreed to grant one day leave in a week for maids while they were allowed to keep their own passports when in the country.Currently, about 80 per cent of the 280,000 maids working in Malaysia are from Indonesia.