KL fumes at Jakarta's plan for costlier maids

KL fumes at Jakarta's plan for costlier maids

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia was yesterday fuming over
Jakarta's proposal to raise the minimum required wage of
Indonesian maids working overseas, warning it could hire domestic
helpers from Thailand instead.

Indonesian Labor Minister Abdul Latief was quoted saying
Monday that Jakarta planned to fix salaries of Indonesian maids
working overseas at a minimum of US$400.

But Malaysia's Human Resources Minister Lim Ah Lek told the
New Straits Times daily here the proposed salary was too high and
might force Kuala Lumpur to turn to other countries for domestic
workers.

Malaysia's estimated 200,000 foreign maids are largely
Indonesians and Filipinas, while Bangladeshis, Thais and Indians
work in the country's labor-starved plantation and building
sectors.

The government argued that supply and administration of
foreign maids was made simpler by restricting them to the two
countries, despite previous appeals by employers for a wider
choice.

"This is a basic principle of supply and demand. If the supply
is costly, certainly the demand will go down," Ishak Kamaruddin,
president of the Malaysian Association of Foreign Workers'
Agencies, said.

Ishak said the salary proposed by Indonesia was twice what
most average Malaysians could afford to pay their domestic help.

He warned his association would pressure the government to
source maids from Thailand and other places if Jakarta pressed
ahead with higher salaries, adding that ultimately "no-one will
benefit, certainly not the Indonesians."