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PUTRAJAYA: Indonesia has given the assurance that maid agencies which have already received payments from Malaysian employers will be allowed to bring in maids to work with the employers concerned.

The assurance was given by Indonesian labour and transmigration minister Dr Erman Suparno during a meeting with Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, at the Human Resources Ministry, here on Monday.

In a statement, Dr Subramaniam said both sides had also agreed to set up a coordinating body to handle all administrative issues pertaining to the employment of Indonesian maids.

“We also agreed that the maids will be given a day off a week but it will be up to the employers and the maids to determine the day. If the off day is not given, the employers should compensate the maids,” he said.

The provision for the off day would be incorporated in the amendment to the Employment Act 1955 which would be tabled in parliament in October, Dr Subramaniam said.

Two weeks ago Jakarta announced that it would no longer send maids to Malaysia following reports of abuse by Malaysian employers.

On maids running away from their employers, Dr Subramaniam said he had requested the Indonesian authorities to ensure that there was no repeat of such incidents.

“Last year alone, about 8,000 Indonesian maids ran away from their employers,” he said.

To protect the interest of employers, he said, Malaysia requested that the insurance coverage for Indonesian maids be expanded to cover incidents of maids running away from their employers.

Dr Subramaniam also conveyed a request that the Indonesian government carry out a review of the fee structure which he said was too high and confusing.

“We suggested that the rate be standardised and Indonesia has agreed to look into it,” he said.

Dr Subramaniam said he had also informed his Indonesian counterpart that Malaysia was taking steps to safeguard the welfare of Indonesian maids, including requiring employers to open bank accounts for their maids so that the ministry could monitor the payments of salary.

“Each maid is also covered under the Workmen’s Compensation Act and a standard contract signed by employers and workers, stipulating the terms of employment and so on,” he said.

Dr Subramaniam described the meeting as cordial and open and that “we agreed to meet more often.”

Meanwhile, Erman, when met by reporters after the meeting, said the two countries would review the memorandum of understanding on labour which was signed in May, 2006.

“We need to review it because both countries had since passed several legislations which are not in line with it. On the Indonesian side we have a new human trafficking law which came into force in 2007,” he said. – Bernama

Utusan Malaysia melapurkan hari ini Menteri Sumber Manusia sebagai berkata;

“Kita turut menerima aduan daripada majikan mengenai masalah amah ini dan ingin saya tegaskan bahawa kerajaan mempunyai tanggungjawab kepada semua pihak terlibat iaitu pembantu rumah, majikan dan juga agensi perniagaan ini.

“Ini kerana mereka juga telah melabur berjuta-juta ringgit dan kadangkala turut menghadapi kerugian ke atas keputusan yang dibuat secara tergesa-gesa, perkara ini akan dibincangkan,” katanya.

Pada masa sama, katanya, beliau berharap perbincangan antara kedua-dua negara akan dibuat dalam satu suasana terbuka demi kepuasan pihak yang terbabit.

Sebagai contoh kalau mahu diberi kebenaran kepada pembantu rumah untuk memegang pasport sendiri maka akan lebih banyak masalah akan kita hadapi nanti. Lagi pun pihak imigresen telah mengeluarkan i-Kad untuk pekerja asing. Ini boleh menggantikan pasport untuk mereka sebagai tanda pengenalan diri. Tahun lepas sahaja hampir 13000 pembantu rumah telah melarikan diri dari kontrak dan majikan. Bayangkan berapakah kerugian yang terpaksa ditanggung oleh majikan dan agensi yang membawa mereka masuk ke Malaysia.

Have you ever wonder why your foreign maid cost you so much? Everybody will try to put the blame on somebody else and the problem remain unsolved. Average cost to hire a maid today is around RM7000 and you could just ask yourself what the heck could we do with that amount of money. If you convert it to rupiah it will become even bigger – Rupiah 24 million! If you live in Central Java you can buy one hectare of land and maybe it comes with a house too!

So you can just imagine how rich those people who do the recruitment of maids in Indonesia could be. On average every maid that they recruit they will get four to five million rupiah from the agency (PJTKI). If they bring four maids a month they will get sixteen million rupiah! They must be very rich if you try to figure out how many maids they can recruit in a month. But that is also not the case because most of them can’t even meet their monthly obligation. These recruiters known as “sponsor” will now blame another party of these trade for the high cost of recruitment.

These people are known as “calo”, people who will go around and spread the news in those remote villages and also directly involves in persuading those who want to be a maid overseas.