PETALING JAYA: The finalising of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on recruitment of maids between Malaysia and the two source countries of Indonesia and Cambodia has been delayed because of a number of maid abuse cases in the country.
Human resources minister M Saravanan, who revealed this today, said the ill treatment of maids was the main reason for the non-renewal of the MoU with Indonesia since 2016, and the delay in finalising a fresh one which was due to be signed in February.
“Although these cases are isolated incidents, they have tarnished the image and reputation of the country and have affected efforts in finalising the MoUs with these two countries,” he said in a statement today.
In view of this, he warned that the errant employers will be blacklisted and will not be allowed to hire any more foreign maids in the future, adding that the government will not compromise on this issue.
“Employers who do not pay salaries or take advantage of foreign maids will be blacklisted and stopped from employing foreign maids again in the future,” he said.
Saravanan said there were currently 86,084 foreign maids in the country with most of them from Indonesia (59,605) followed by the Philippines (22,803), Vietnam (1,031) and Cambodia (976) among others.
He also said there were 1,157,481 foreign workers in the country.
On Saturday, FMT reported that Indonesian ambassador Hermono was perplexed as to why there were so many maid abuse cases in Malaysia and little to none in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Hermono said there have been numerous cases of maids being made to work for their employers for years without being paid, some even working for more than a decade under such conditions.
He hoped that the MoU between Jakarta and Putrajaya on Indonesian domestic workers would be finalised within the next three rounds of negotiations between the two governments.
He said the MoU would better protect Indonesian maids through a one-channel system, which would be controlled by Indonesia, allowing Jakarta to keep track of the whereabouts of workers and to stay in contact with them.
There is also a proposed online salary system which would allow Indonesian authorities to monitor if domestic workers were being paid.