M`SIA AND INDONESIA STILL NEGOTIATING TO RESOLVE MAID ISSUE

KUALA SELANGOR (Selangor, Malaysia), Jan 16 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and Indonesia
are sill having negotiations to resolve some outstanding issues pertaining to
the recruitment of domestic maids from the republic, said Human Resources
Minister Dr S. Subramaniam.

He said discussions pertaining to maids, would go on between both countries in
the meantime until a mutual understanding was achieved.

"We have been discussing the maid issue with Indonesia for some time but there
are a few conditions which the Indonesian government wants us to meet, namely
granting a weekly day off for the maids and permission to keep their own
passports.

"From the survey which we have done, Malaysian employers are not very keen on
these two conditions. As such, both the countries would continue having
discussions on the matter and I hope that some kind of flexibility would be
given to us to resolve the issue.

"We hope to strike a balance between both countries on this issue to move
forward," he told reporters after attending the 1Malaysia Ponggal festival
officiated by Deputy Minister of Information Communication and Culture, Maglin
Dennis D'Cruz near here, Sunday.

Subramaniam was responding to the front page news report in a Malay daily Sunday
that some 30,000 Indonesian maids were waiting to be brought into Malaysia to
fill up the vacancies, despite the temporary freeze imposed by Indonesia on
their maids.

On June 2009, Jakarta had issued a freeze order on maids from the country to
Malaysia, following reports of abuse by employers.

Currently, about 90 per cent of the maids working in Malaysia are from Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Maglin at the press conference said he would propose to the
government and MIC soon on the possibility of including the Ponggal festival in
the calendar.

He said the festival had the potential of uniting Indians together and should
become a yearly affair.
-- BERNAMA