ANOTHER amount has been proposed for the contentious hiring fee for Indonesian maids, with the Government putting it at RM8,000.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who chaired the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers and Illegal Immigrants, said that the new rate was decided after considering all costs from both Malaysia and Indonesia.
“The RM8,000 was decided after considering the cost of training for at least 200 hours, documentation, food and accommodation before transfer to the new employers, travelling cost, medical check-ups as well as payment to the respective government agencies of both countries,” he said at a meeting at Parliament House yesterday.
It was reported under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Malaysian and Indonesian governments in 2011, the cost to recruit Indonesian maids was set at a RM4,511 – where RM2,711 was paid by the employer and RM1,800 was paid by the domestic helper.
Muhyiddin said the changes of the structural cost would be brought for further discussion by both governments.
“The details will be explained by the Human Resources Ministry after the approval from both sides,” he said.
He said the new revised rates was considered reasonable compared to the other countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong who were paying Indonesian domestic helpers at higher rates.
Muhyiddin added that the salary of Indonesian maids will not be bound by the Minimum Wages Act 2012; and will instead be based on the current market prices and the employer.
The Government, he said, will also fully suspend the Journey Perform Visa (JP Visa) in October this year.
“Previously, the Immigration Department had allowed the issuance of JP Visa due to problems of supply of Indonesian maid based on a case by case basis, where only 290 were successfully recruited,” he said.
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