Domestic helpers from Indonesia still being negotiated

The government is still in negotiations with the Indonesian government on the recruitment of domestic helpers from that country, said Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Abdul Mutalib.

He said, so far, there were still several factors that had yet to be finalised, including the issue of the registration processing fee, training, examination and health.

"The registration processing fee of RM7,800 being proposed before this is said to be still cheap compared to other countries like Singapore, Saudi Arabia and West Asian countries.

"The recruitment of domestic helpers cannot be finalised due to this," he told reporters after officiating the Chenor Area Farmers' Organisation seventh general meeting in Kampung Awah today.

Ismail said the country needed at least between three to four million domestic helpers.

Even though 14 countries, including the Philippines, Myanmar and Bangladesh, also supplied such manpower to the country, he said it still could not meet the demands of the sector, which was previously monopolised by Indonesia.

Ismail also reminded the people to get legal domestic helpers and not through illegal agents to avoid them from incurring high costs besides losses if helpers ran away.

He said employers who recruited domestic helpers from agencies that were registered with the government were entitled to get new replacements.

On another issue, he said the minimum salary scheme coordination to be implemented beginning August was the result of consultations between the employers, workers, Bank Negara, International Labour Organisation (ILO) and National Wages Consultative Council.

He said it was not a decision set by the government as claimed by the opposition to allegedly force the employers to implement the scheme.

"The government is merely the middleman to receive the outcome of the consultations from the parties' involved," he said.