Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
The usually ready supply has now been reduced to a trickle, according to the
Malaysian Association of Foreign Workers Agencies (Papa).
<p>The association, which has described the shortage as critical, claimed the
delay was being caused by agents in Jakarta who are diverting the supply to
more lucrative markets. </p>
<p>"It has become tough this time. The supply has dropped tremendously over
the last six months. Things are getting critical because agencies can only meet
about 20% of the demand. </p>
<p>"The Government must intervene as soon as possible," said Papa vice-president
Jeffrey Foo. </p>
<p>He said Malaysia took in about 60,000 maids from Indonesia annually. </p>
<p>"Feedback from agencies shows that about 80% of their customers are still
waiting for maids. They haven’t even got the biodata to give it to prospective
employers to choose from," he told The Star. </p>
<p>Foo said they used to get the information within two weeks from their Indonesian
counterparts, but it was taking about three to six months now, adding that it
would take another two months after applications were submitted. </p>
<p>Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr Fong Chan Onn, when contacted, said he would
inform his counterpart in the Home Ministry how the shortage was affecting many
working parents. </p>
<p>"The problem, if prolonged, will not be good for national productivity.
It is also not good to depend on one country to get the bulk of our maid supply,"
he said. </p>
<p>Although Malaysia had recently raised the monthly salary from RM380 to RM450,
it was still deemed too low to attract the maids here as employers in Singapore,
Taiwan, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia offer better pay. </p>
<p>He said agents in Indonesia wanted the salary to be increased to RM600, a move
that Papa felt was only a temporary solution as the salaries in other countries
were much higher. </p>
<p>There are about 200,000 foreign maids in the country, the majority of them
from Indonesia. Others are from the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. Papa
is suggesting that Malaysia also open its doors to maids from Nepal, Myanmar
and Vietnam. </p>
<p>A maid agency owner in Petaling Jaya who did not want to be named said the
shortage of Indonesian maids could also be due to the bad publicity over the
alleged abuse of Nirmala Bonat. </p>
<p>The agency head said the alleged incident sparked a national outcry in Indonesia.
</p>
<p>"The press there played up stories of Nirmala and painted Malaysian employers
as mean people," said the agency head. </p>
<p>When contacted, an Indonesian Embassy official said the country was being cautious
because there had been many complaints about irresponsible agencies, which left
them in the lurch or refused to help them when they faced problems. </p>
<p>"In some cases, the agents in Indonesia are fed up with their Malaysian
counterparts for charging high fees which can go up to RM4,000-RM5,000 for one
maid. The Indonesian agents are only charging RM1,500 to RM2,000," he said.
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