Indonesian maids’ RM600 salary ‘stays’

KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesian maids are expected to start arriving in the country from September after an agreement is signed between Malaysia and Indonesian later this month.Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (Papa) president Alwi Bavutty said this was because most maids would not come during the Ramadan fasting month and prefer to wait until after the Hari Raya celebrations.

He said after the memorandum of understanding (MoU) had been signed by both sides, there would be a time frame for maid agencies from both countries to put in place the new requirements.

Alwi said Papa held a series of meetings with the Human Resources Ministry on the issue before the MoU was drafted and it aimed to safeguard both the employer and employee.

The cost of hiring a new maid was expected to remain the same with the salary remaining at RM600 monthly.

“I don’t expect it to increase. Otherwise, it will become impractical to hire an Indonesian maid,” he said, adding that maids from Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka were paid the same amount.

Filipino maids were paid about RM1,200 monthly as the Philippines government wanted a wage of US$400 for its maids.

Alwi said the cost of hiring a maid would range from RM8,000 to RM10,000, depending on the agency. Of this, about RM6,000 was expected to go to the Indonesian maid agency.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam had said on Tuesday that discussions between officials from both countries had concluded and they were fine-tuning some points.

Dr Subramaniam will sign the MoU on behalf of Malaysia while Indonesia will be represented by its Manpower and Transmigration Minister H. Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar.

Among the matters that had been agreed upon by both countries were problems about passports, cost structure and a day off for maids.

The government will make it compulsory for employers to pay the maids’ salaries through bank accounts instead of cash.

The MoU will also require Indonesian maid agencies to send only trained maids and to provide replacement maids should the earlier ones run away.