Malaysia to look elsewhere for maids

IF INDONESIA BAN STAYS

INQUIRER.net
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 10:55:00 06/28/2009

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—The government here said it could turn to other neighboring countries to recruit maids if Indonesia continues to ban its nationals from coming here to work as domestic helpers.

Indonesian labor minister Erman Suparno said Thursday his country would stop sending domestic helpers to Malaysia at least until a mid-July bilateral meeting in Kuala Lumpur to discuss a new migrant worker agreement.

It comes after a 43-year-old Malaysian woman was charged earlier this month with causing grievous bodily harm to an Indonesian woman she employed as a maid, allegedly beating her with a cane and dousing her with boiling water.

But Malaysia's human resources minister S. Subramaniam told state media late Saturday it would have been better had Indonesia explored all avenues of discussion before taking its action.

"If the decision (to temporarily ban maids) is final, then we will decide on the best option available, like looking at the possibility of getting domestic helpers from other Asean (Association of Southeast Asian) countries," he told state news agency Bernama.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak pledged earlier Saturday that tough action would be taken against anyone abusing Indonesian maids, urging employers to take greater interest in their welfare.

"We have to take stern action under the law against those who abuse maids," Najib told reporters.

Subramaniam said an average of 50 maid abuse cases were reported annually out of the 300,000 Indonesian maids working in Malaysia.

Malaysia has no laws governing the working conditions for domestic workers but has promised to draft legislation to protect them from sexual harassment, non-payment of wages, and poor conditions.

About 1.2 million documented Indonesians are in Malaysia, with illegals estimated to number about 800,000.