Reduce hiring cost of maids, say M’sians

PETALING JAYA: The total cost of hiring an Indonesian domestic worker, which is currently capped at RM15,000, should be reduced, Malaysians say.

Mother of two Clarice Wong expressed her worries that maid agencies would monopolise the recruitment process since employers are no longer allowed to source for their own maids.

The 54-year old also hoped that maid agencies would impose reasonable charges given that their profit margin is expected to increase following public demands.

“The contributions through the Social Security Organisation (Socso) listed in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) in protecting the welfare of domestic workers (PDI) is good news because it will not put additional burden on employers,” she said.

Maziah from Kajang, however, questioned the need for Socso contributions when employers already fork out annual insurance payment.

“The costs of hiring one is already expensive and with this added payment it will be more expensive,” said the 52- year-old.

Malaysia and Indonesia signed an MOU on April 1 on the recruitment of Indonesian domestic helpers which spells out that employers can only hire workers through agencies. In protecting the welfare of domestic workers, various initiatives have been adopted, including Socso contributions.

Meanwhile, Association of Employment Agencies Malaysia vice-president Suresh Tan clarified that agencies will not be able to monopolise recruitment costs since it is capped at RM 15,000 in the MOU. All agencies are expected to go through the one channel system (OCS) to connect with Indonesian agencies.

He urged for OCS, however, to not act as a business unit and monopolise the recruitment process.

“From the briefing that we received, the system is acting as a business unit because Malaysian agencies have to pay full payment to the system to receive biodata from Indonesian agencies,” he said, adding that there are uncertainties with the current system as transaction details between agencies and the OCS were not properly briefed.