REVIEW OF INDONESIAN HOUSEMAID ISSUE SHOULD BENEFIT BOTH COUNTRIES

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya

JAKARTA, Feb 18 (Bernama) -- Malaysian ambassador to Indonesia Syed Munshe Afdzaruddin Syed Hassan said the review of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the dispatch of Indonesian housemaids to Malaysia should benefit both Malaysia and Indonesia.

He said that while the Indonesian work force helped Malaysia in its economic
development, it also offered job opportunities to the Indonesians who then
contributed to the Indonesian economy.

As two friendly nations sharing a common root and having similarities in
culture and language, Malaysia and Indonesia should always tackle whatever
problems that they faced with the final objective of achieving progress and
prosperity for both the country and people, he told Bernama after paying a
courtesy call on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Marzukie Alie.

As such, Syed Munshe Afdzaruddin said the proposal by Indonesia to fix a
minimum wage of RM800 (Rp2.2 million) per month for Indonesian housemaids
working in Malaysia should be studied in terms of its appropriateness by taking
into consideration the capacity of employers in Malaysia to pay that kind of
money and whether the salary was commensurate with the product they were
getting.

Indonesia had temporarily suspended the dispatch of housemaids to Malaysia
since the middle of last year and both parties were still negotiating to sign a
new MoU for the dispatch of the domestic maids so that it would be more orderly
and ensure protection for both the employees and employers.

The minimum wage for housemaids in Jakarta also became an issue when the
city authority planned to fix a rate of Rp1.1 million (about RM400) as the
minimum monthly wage.

-- BERNAMA