Indonesian maids refuse to work for low Malaysian wages, Cambodian maids don't

Monday, May 21, 2007
Malaysian official: Indonesian maids staying away due to low wages

The Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Indonesian maids are staying away from Malaysia due to low wages and Indonesian agents unhappy with low recruitment fees, a government minister said Monday.

An average of 1,000 Indonesian maids enter Malaysia each month, but the number has recently dropped "quite a lot," Home Affairs Minister Radzi Sheikh Ahmad told reporters. He did not give figures.

"The maids have not been encouraged by the Indonesian agents to come here. They also believe that our wages are much less than offered by other countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore."

Radzi said Indonesian maids are paid an average of 400 ringgit (US$114; €83) a month in Malaysia, but can make more than twice that in neighboring Singapore.

Indonesian agents had also complained they earned only an estimated profit of 460 ringgit (US$135, €99) from each maid, compared to 630 ringgit (US$185, €135) made by a Malaysian agent, he said.

The reduced availability of Indonesian maids has led to some Malaysian employers paying agents up to 6,000 ringgit (US$1,765, €1,288) to recruit a maid, compared to around 3,500 ringgit (US$1,176, €858) recommended by the government, Radzi said.

He said he will meet soon with Indonesian labor authorities to see how they could best resolve the issue. The two countries have an agreement to protect maids — but it does not stipulate any minimum wage, holidays or overtime pay, he said.

"It's up to the employers," Radzi said. "We don't want to be restricted to too many laws and regulations to protect maids."

He said Malaysia is turning to other countries such as India, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan for maids.

More than 300,000 Indonesian now work as housemaids in Malaysia.

Malaysia relies heavily on foreign laborers for menial work, and Indonesians form the bulk of the domestic work force.

Wanted: Cambodian maids to serve Malaysians

Apr 23, 2007
Malaysians urged to hire maids from Thailand, China, Cambodia

DPA

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysians have been encouraged to look to Thailand, China and Cambodia to hire maids due to a shortage of Indonesians keen to work in the neighbouring country, reports said Monday.

Deputy Home Minister Tan Chai Ho said that Indonesian women were now more keen to work as maids in the Middle East, Taiwan or Hong Kong, where wages are higher than in Malaysia.

'That's why employers must look for other alternatives such as employing non-Indonesian workers, as there are also many good workers in the other countries,' Tan was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

Indonesian women, along with maids from the Philippines, are the preferred choice of Malaysian employers due to similarities in culture and language in both countries.

'In our country, they are only paid between 450 ringgit (132 dollars) and 600 ringgit (176 dollars),' Tan said. 'I understand they can earn as much as 1,000 ringgit (294 dollars) in other countries. That's why they prefer to work there.'

By June 2006, official records showed 1.84 million registered foreign workers in Malaysia, of which 26.9 per cent - or 500,000 people - were foreign maids.

The largest nationality of maids in Malaysia are Indonesians, followed by Filipino maids who make up about 20,000 workers.