RI maids working in HK demand rights

RI maids working in HK demand rights

HONG KONG: Indonesian maids and their supporters marched to Indonesia's embassy in Hong Kong on Sunday, demanding the right to find jobs without having to hire costly private agencies.

More than 100 people, including Thai, Nepalese and Filipino maids, chanted slogans outside the Indonesian Consulate General denouncing the government in Jakarta for requiring domestic helpers seeking work abroad to go through Indonesian placement agencies, protest organizer Eni Lestari Adi said.

Adi said Indonesian maids end up paying HK$21,000 (US$2,700) per job placement - more than six months' wages. Maids earn a minimum salary of HK$3,270 (US$419) per month.

"This is very systemic exploitation," she said.

A man answering the phone at the Indonesian consulate said no one was immediately available for comment.

As of the end of June 2004, about 217,000 foreign domestic helpers worked in Hong Kong. Indonesians make up the second largest contingent after Filipinos. --AP