MAID AGENCIES IN SUMATERA MULL LOWERING FEES FOR MALAYSIA

BY AHMAD FUAD YAHYA
MEDAN, April 15 (Bernama) -- Maid agencies in Sumatera will be meeting up on
Saturday to discuss lowering the cost of export of Indonesian maids to Malaysia.

A spokesman for the agencies, Asa Binsar, said if the maids were sourced
from Sumatera, it would help lower the cost of sending maids to Malaysia.

"However, if we have to source the maids from Java, there will not be much
difference in terms of cost," he told Bernama here Wednesday.

He said this after the representatives of 35 Sumatran maid agencies had a
meeting with Malaysia's Ambasador to Indonesia Syed Munshe Afdzaruddin
Syed Hassan at the Malaysian Consul-General's Office here.

Also present was Malaysia's Consul-General here Norlin Othman.

Presently, it costs up to RM8,000 (US$2,497) to hire an Indonesian maid,
which has become a bone of contention between the two countries who are
currently in talks to draw up a memorandum to iron out the issue.

-- BERNAMA