RI maids spurn M'sia over money

Tue, 10 May 2005 | Source: AFP

MALAYSIA: With many Indonesian maids looking for higher-paying jobs elsewhere, Malaysia will invite domestic aides from Thailand, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, a minister said in remarks published on Monday.

"Indonesian maids now prefer to work in Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia, which offer them better wages," Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn was quoted as saying by The Star newspaper.

He was commenting on reports that Indonesian maids were now offered between 800 ringgit (US$210) and 1,000 ringgit a month in other countries compared to just 450 ringgit in Malaysia.

Malaysia usually takes in nearly 60,000 Indonesian maids per year, but just 12,000 have been recruited in the past six months, while thousands of Malaysian households have been waiting in vain to fill positions. Fong said he hoped Malaysians would not prevent their Indonesian maids from leaving for other countries. -- AFP

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