EMPLOYER, MAID CAN STILL NEGOTIATE WEEKLY OFF DAY - MALAYSIAN PM

KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 (Bernama) -- Malaysian employers and their Indonesian
maids can still negotiate the requirement for an off day a week and come up with
mutually-agreed arrangement, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said.

He said if both sides agreed, the maids need not take an off day and they
would be paid salary in lieu of the off day.

"If we have concerns, we can still negotiate," he told reporters after
opening the ground breaking ceremony of Utusan Melayu (M) Berhad's new
headquarters at Jalan Chan Sow Lin, here Thursday.

Najib said this when asked to comment on concerns that the one-day off for
maid could give rise to social problem.

"There should be a compromise or else how are we going to have the supply of
maid?" he said.

On Tuesday, Malaysia and Indonesia signed a letter of intent, which requires
Malaysian employers to give their Indonesian maids a day off a week and that if
the maids agreed not to take the off day, they would be paid salaries instead.

Najib said Malaysian families were increasingly in need of maid especially
if the husband and wife were working.

Asked whether the setting up of more nurseries could help ease the demand
for maid among working couples, Najib said it was likely that these couples
would still need the service of a maid.

-- BERNAMA