MANIPULATION CONTRIBUTES TO HIGHER COST OF HIRING MAIDS

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- The government is taking steps to
determine the actual cost of bringing maids into the country to help keep the
cost of hiring domestic workers in check, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin
said Tuesday.

Aware that the cost of hiring maids had gone up, the deputy prime minister
did not rule out the possibility that it was due to manipulation by foreign maid
agents and also the myriad of demands made by source countries.

Muhyiddin, who is also the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers chairman,
said some agents or people who brought in the maids might have hiked the charges
on the pretext that they had to pay a lot to get those maids into the country.

"Hence there is a need for us to really look into the details as to the
actual cost of bringing maid into the country," he said in response to a
at the Women's Summit 2009 here.

Muhyiddin said he believed that local employers were willing to pay "a litte
bit more" if they could get well-trained and qualified maids as claimed by the
agents.

"So, basically, what you need is efficient, well-trained and qualified maids
and I think we are willing to pay a little bit more for that purpose.

"But if you pay whatever amount you pay today and they don't serve your
purpose because they are not working according to what you need to do, of couse
the issue is that it (cost) has become expensive," he said.

On discussions between Malaysia and Indonesia in relation to the maid issue,
Muhyiddin said Malaysia was still waiting for Indonesia's reponse after Malaysia
had despatched a report outlining the matters to be dicussed.

"There is supposed to be a meeting between the Home Ministry and the
relevant ministry of Indonesia but this has not happened.

"We have sent them a report on what we intend to discuss and how this policy
can be continued to assist us in terms of getting the right people as maids in
the country but we are yet to receive a response from Indonesia."

Muhyiddin said the as far as Malaysia was concerned, it was ready for the
meeting and hoped to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
-- BERNAMA