Biting the hand that fed her birthday cake

ACTRESS Datin Elvina Mohamad (pic) took to social media to share her frustration after her domestic worker ran away, leaving her nine-month-old son home alone.

According to Utusan Malaysia, the Indonesian domestic worker left the house on Thursday, taking some money and a handphone along with her.

Elvina said the family recently celebrated the worker’s birthday to cheer her up after revealing that she was homesick and missing her children.

“She mentioned that she had never celebrated a birthday nor had a cake. Although my husband and I were busy with work, we made an effort to buy a cake and order the food she likes.

“She was even moved to tears and asked us to buy her a handphone because her current one needed repairs.

“In conclusion, no matter how well we treated our domestic helper, she still behaved this way. It’s frustrating!” she said.

> The daily also reported that the cost of performing the haj for first-time pilgrims this year had increased by 8% to RM33,300 from RM30,850 last year.

As a result, the financial aid borne by Lembaga Tabung Haji for the haj this year is also expected to increase to RM350.1mil.

The cost covers the entire haj service chain, such as accommodation, flights, meals, visas, on-site services in the home country as well as in the Holy Land.

Tabung Haji group CEO Syed Hamadah Syed Othman said the payment rate for pilgrims from the B40 group was also expected to increase following the hike.

“B40 pilgrims will receive financial aid for haj and government aid totalling RM20,944 per person, equivalent to 63% of the total haj cost,” he said.

“The haj payment for M40 pilgrims, who are performing the pilgrimage for the first time, is RM19,152 per person. However, they will receive haj financial aid amounting to RM14,148 per person or 42% of the total cost.

“The T20 group will be charged the full cost of performing the haj, which is RM33,300 per person.”

● The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.