Arrival Of 50,000 Maids In Accordance With Supply And Demand - Minister

SHAH ALAM (Malaysia), Nov 30 (Bernama) -- The hiring of 50,000 Indonesian maids who are expected to arrive in Malaysia early next year is in accordance with the actual supply and demand, said Human Resources Minister Dr S. Subramaniam. As such, he said, employers in the country were in no rush to seek the services of maids though the moratorium on sending Indonesian maids to Malaysia would be lifted Dec 1. "Nobody forces anyone to take maids and nobody forces anyone to supply maids. There must be somebody who needs the maid and somebody who supplies the maid," he told a press conference after opening a seminar on the role of union workers in making Malaysia a high-income nation, here, Wednesday. Dr Subramaniam was responding to an English daily news article which quoted Malaysian National Association of Employment Agencies (Pikap) deputy president Aizan Lana as saying that Indonesian maids were not queueing up to come to Malaysia although the moratorium would end Dec 1. According to the Indonesian authorities, some 50,000 Indonesian maids were due to arrive in Malaysia from mid-January next year once the moratorium is lifted Dec 1. The minister also hoped that all the 400 recruitment agencies registered in Malaysia would agree to the new one-off agency fee to recruit an Indonesian maid which was now set at RM4,511. (US$1=RM3.17) On the National Wages Consultative Council, Dr Subramaniam reiterated that the council was free from political interference. "This is because the council functions as an independent body to review and set minimum wages based on the tripartite principle involving the government, employers and workers. "Though there were numerous requests by the ruling and opposition parties to place their representatives in the council, I said no to make sure the council was free from political interference. "I wanted an independent council where both workers and employers could discuss and come up with a conclusion (on minimum wage)," he said. In July 2011, the Malaysia's Lower House of Parliament has approved the National Wages Consultative Council Bill 2011 to pave the way for the setting up of the council. It is made up of 25 members comprising six workers' representatives, six employers' representatives, five government representatives, five independent representatives, a chairman, a deputy chairman and a secretary from the Human Resources Ministry. On the move by the PKR-led Selangor government to implement a minimum wage of RM1,500 for employees of its government-linked companies (GLCs), Dr Subramaniam said: "It is always easy to implement a minimum wage policy for such a group." However, he said, it was a difficult task for the ministry to set a minimum wage policy for all the sectors in the country as it required more planning and discussions. -- BERNAMA