Lower maid hiring cost: HR ministry awaiting Indonesia's reply, says Sivakumar

KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Resources Ministry is still waiting for an answer from Indonesia regarding the proposal to reduce the cost of hiring Indonesian domestic workers.

The minister concerned, V. Sivakumar (pic) said the two-day Malaysia-Indonesia Joint Working Group Meeting starting yesterday had discussed efforts to resolve the matter.

"This matter is getting the attention of the ministry because the ceiling cost now is RM15,000 which is too high and we are working and researching to reduce it.

"The Working Group (Malaysia-Indonesia Joint Working Group) discussed finding a solution and I am still waiting for an answer from them," he said when winding up the debate on the motion of thanks for the royal address for the ministry at Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (Feb 23).

Sivakumar said that in a dialogue session with Indonesian Minister of Manpower Dr Ida Fauziyah recently, he also discussed the matter of reducing the cost of bringing in domestic workers.

As of Jan 22, there are 399,827 Indonesians working in Malaysia in the manufacturing, construction, plantation, service, agriculture, foreign domestic workers, mining and quarrying sectors.

Of that number, 63,323 are foreign domestic workers and Indonesians comprise the largest number in the domestic sector in Malaysia.- Bernama