KL sidesteps maid wage issue

KL sidesteps maid wage issue

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Malaysia's government is staying out of the question of whether Filipino maids working here will receive pay raises, as the Philippine government had announced.

Employers will have to decide themselves whether they want to pay higher wages, or hire cheaper maids from Indonesia, Human Resources Minister Lim Ah Lek was quoted as saying in The Sunday Star.

Lim was commenting on Philippine Embassy labor attache Jeffrey Cortaza's statement that the Manila government had in principle approved a 50 percent raise in wages for Filipino maids, who are now being paid 500 ringgit (US$200) a month in Malaysia.

The Malaysian government has a policy of allowing maid agencies and employers to work out their own costs. Indonesian maids are paid about 350 ringgit ($140) and Indonesia has not announced any plans to raise wages.