Malaysia desperate for RI maids

Malaysia desperate for RI maids

Loong Meng Yee, Asian News Network, Shah Alam, Malaysia

Tens of thousands of households are in dire straits, waiting
in vain for their Indonesian maids to arrive.

The usually ready supply has now been reduced to a trickle,
according to the Malaysian Association of Foreign Workers
Agencies (Papa).

The association, which has described the shortage as critical,
claimed the delay was being caused by agents in Jakarta who are
diverting the supply to more lucrative markets.

"It has become tough this time. The supply has dropped
tremendously over the last six months. Things are getting
critical because agencies can only meet about 20 percent of the
demand.

"The Government must intervene as soon as possible," said Papa
vice-president Jeffrey Foo.

He said Malaysia took in about 60,000 maids from Indonesia
annually.

"Feedback from agencies shows that about 80 percent of their
customers are still waiting for maids. They haven't even got the
biodatas to give to prospective employers to choose from," he
told The Star.

Foo said they used to get the information within two weeks
from their Indonesian counterparts, but it was taking about three
to six months now, adding that it would take another two months
after applications were submitted.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr. Fong Chan Onn, when
contacted, said he would inform his counterpart in the Home
Ministry how the shortage was affecting many working parents.

"The problem, if prolonged, will not be good for national
productivity. It is also not good to depend on one country for
the bulk of our maid supply," he said.

Although Malaysia had recently raised the monthly salary from
380 Malaysian ringgit (about US$100) to RM450, it was still
deemed too low to attract the maids here as employers in
Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia offer better pay.

He said agents in Indonesia wanted the salary to be increased
to RM600, a move that Papa felt was only a temporary solution as
the salaries in other countries were much higher.

There are about 200,000 foreign maids in the country, of which
the majority come from Indonesia. Others are from the
Philippines, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. Papa is suggesting that
Malaysia also open its doors to maids from Nepal, Myanmar and
Vietnam.

A maid agency owner in Petaling Jaya who did not want to be
named said the shortage of Indonesian maids could also be due to
the bad publicity over the alleged abuse of Nirmala Bonat.

The agency head said the alleged incident sparked a national
outcry in Indonesia:"The press there played up stories of Nirmala
and painted Malaysian employers as mean people."

When contacted, an Indonesian Embassy official said the
country was being cautious because there had been many complaints
about irresponsible agencies that left them in the lurch or
refused to help them when they faced problems.

"In some cases, the agents in Indonesia are fed up with their
Malaysian counterparts for charging high fees, which can go up to
RM4,000-5,000 for one maid. The Indonesian agents are only
charging RM1,500 to RM2,000," he said.

Sidebar

Desperately seeking Indonesian maids

KLANG: G. Sashikala, 48, has been desperately trying to get a
maid from Indonesia since her last one ran away three months ago.

But like many others, her efforts have been in vain, as the
agencies she has approached all say they are not getting any
biodatas of new maids.

"I am willing to pay the agency fees as well as the new
monthly salary of RM450. But the agencies keep telling me there
are no biodatas available," she said.

Sashikala, who lives in Taman Sri Muda, Shah Alam, and works
as a night nurse, has been finding it tremendously difficult to
manage without a maid, as her grandson, R. Nikhlesh, 6, is
usually with her for most of the day and stays the night at
times.

Some days, she only gets down to sweeping the floor and
folding the laundry after she has given the boy his dinner and
settled him in for the evening.

Another family going through a tough period are the Lims from
Pandan Indah.

Businessman Richard Lim, 43, went to three agencies only to be
told no biodatas on Indonesian maids were available for
assessment.

The Lims need a maid to help with their three children, aged
6, 4 and 2 years, so they can help run the family's software
development business.

Richard said they were now sourcing a maid from other
countries, including Cambodia and Sri Lanka.

K.L. Lim, 45, from Subang Jaya, a sales executive and mother
of a school-aged daughter, has been waiting for a call from her
regular agency since her last maid went home to Indonesia three
months ago. "My agency keeps telling me there are no biodatas of
new maids. They have one or two biodatas in hand, but these maids
have been rejected by others," she said. -- ANN