KUCHING: Employment agencies in the state are apprehensive about the proposal to raise the salary of Indonesian maids working in Malaysia to RM1200 per month by their government.
The Indonesian Embassy submitted the proposal on May 13 to the federal government to increase the salary of their domestic maids to RM1,200.
Salleh Rambli who runs the work agency MSK Bayu Sdn Bhd told The Borneo Post yesterday the proposed raise was too high and beyond the means of many households.
“The current salary rate of domestic maids in Sarawak is between RM600 to RM700 which I strongly believe is fair as it justifies the maid’s workload,” he added.
The proposal if it were to go through would force employers to stop hiring maids from Indonesia and this in turn would cause a drastic drop in the business of employment agents.
He admitted that in other countries such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, Indonesian domestic help were paid RM1,000 but Malaysian employers could not follow that scale as their income was lower than those in the two countries.
Salleh questioned why the state government refused to grant work permits for domestic maids from Burma, Thailand or Vietnam.
“With more options from other nationalities, the market here would be more competitive and the Indonesian government would not be able to come up with too many demands,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Human Resources has released a statement on June 1, saying that a round table talk would be held at the end of this month to discuss the proposal.
In the statement, its minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot said Indonesia’s proposal to raise the salary for their domestic maids to RM1,200 was too high compared to the nation’s minimum salary of RM900.
“The government will hold discussion sessions with the employers’ associations, workers unions and employment agencies on the proposal before deciding on the consideration and direction of its (proposed salary increase) implementation,” said Riot in the statement.
He disclosed that the proposal was made during the meeting of the joint Malaysia–Indonesia working group on the Amended Protocol of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Services of Indonesian Domestic Maids in Putrajaya on May 13.
The Indonesian government felt that the proposal would make the services of domestic maids in Malaysia more competitive compared with the salaries offered by other countries.