Indonesia has said that beginning next year, it may not allow its women to work as live-in maids in foreign countries, including Malaysia. It wants a formal contract between the domestic helper and the employer, similar to the agreements drawn up for other foreign workers in other sectors.

What are the implications for employers if they have to make do with non live-in Indonesian maids?

Willing to consider

Malaysian Maid Employers Association (MAMA) president Engku Ahmad Fauzi Engku Muhsein said while the association was willing to consider Indonesia’s proposed plan, it was, however, unclear on issues such as employer responsibilities and maid welfare.

He said if domestic helpers were recognised as formal workers, then they would be entitled to the minimum wage as stipulated by the Malaysian government.

And if that was the case, he added, employers would not be responsible for their maids’ welfare, security and medical needs after working hours. Neither would they pay for their maids’ lodging and food.

“Once the maids become formal workers, their employers will no longer have to take care of their lodging, security and other things. They have to take care of all their expenses. And whatever happens to them has nothing to do with their employers,” he told Bernama recently.

(Currently, the minimum monthly salary for domestic helpers in Malaysia is RM900, which is in line with the government’s national minimum wage policy. Effective July 1, the minimum wage will be raised to RM1,000 for Peninsular Malaysia and to RM920 for Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territory of Labuan.)

Engku Ahmad Fauzi said if the domestic help sector was formalised, then the current prohibitively-high maid recruitment fees should be lowered to the amount imposed on other sectors.

The government has set the current recruitment fee for Indonesian maids at RM7,800, but agents are known to charge employers as high as RM12,000. In addition, employers also have to pay an annual levy of RM600, as well as RM100 for their maids’ yearly medical examination.

Engku Ahmad Fauzi stressed that MAMA would object to Indonesia’s move to formalise the domestic help sector if the recruitment fees remained the same and employers had to foot their maids’ room rental.

But looking at the positives, he said Indonesia’s plan to disallow live-in maids might be advantageous for employers as they would not have to incur extra food and utility costs and would also get to enjoy more privacy at home.

“In fact, there are some employers who are not comfortable with live-in maids, but have to keep them at home because they have no other choice,” he said.

The Negative Side

Engku Ahmad Fauzi said it would be ideal if employers were also given an option to hire part-time maids.

“At present, there are women providing part-time maid services but it’s illegal for them to do so as it’s not recognised by the government,” he said.

While he agreed that allowing maids to observe regular working hours and live in their own accommodation would minimise abuse, he said it would not, however, resolve issues such as stealing from the employer and running away.

“If a maid goes home at 5pm and fails to turn up for work the next morning, who will compensate the employer?” he asked, adding that the authorities should work out details pertaining to salary, scope of work and the rights and interests of both the maid and employer before Indonesia implemented its plan.

Malaysian National Association of Employment Agencies President Raja Zulkepley Dahalan, meanwhile, has a more pessimistic view of Indonesia’s impending plan to bar live-in maids as he is convinced that it will have social implications and cause more complications for Indonesia and Malaysia.

He said the present live-in arrangement was good enough and that if Indonesia went ahead with its plan, the drawbacks would surely outweigh the good.

“Just imagine what will happen when maids live on their own… they will face all kinds of social problems and have no protection against criminals, and they may even get exploited by undesirable elements. And who is responsible if they steal (from their employers) and run away?”

Raja Zulkepley also has a string of other questions such as: “Who will be authorised to bring the maids into the country after they are recognised as formal workers? How will they go about finding employers? Will this be the job of the government, employer or agency? And who will be regulating it? All these are still not clear. At present, everything (related to recruitment) is being handled by employment agencies and we have a structured process in place.”

Who is responsible?

Raja Zulkepley suggested that the government issue block visas to qualified employment agencies registered under the Manpower Department and Immigration Department to handle the recruitment of maids if Indonesia enforced the new hiring conditions for its maids.

“Each agency, for instance, can be issued 50 visas so it can recruit up to 50 maids and also take charge of their welfare. The agency should be in charge of vetting all the maids before they are brought into the country and it should also be allowed to provide full-time or daily or weekly maid service,” he said.

He said the agencies should also be responsible for providing hostel accommodation and food for the maids, as well as transport to and from their workplace and insurance coverage for accidents, hospitalisation and surgery.

Raja Zulkepley said instead of allowing all the existing employment agencies to recruit maids from Indonesia, the government should consider allowing only 50 to 100 reliable and financially-strong agencies to handle the hiring process as they would have the means to provide lodging and transport services for the maids.

“I understand that about 350,000 employment agencies are registered with the government, while there are another 27,000 unregistered ones,” he said, adding that the government could not afford to take care of the welfare of the maids should Indonesia implement the “no live-in maid” ruling next year.

“The agencies should be responsible for the welfare of the maids as they have the capacity to provide them maximum protection,” he added.

– BERNAMA