MALAYSIA: EMPLOYERS, MAIDS TO ATTEND REGULAR DIALOGUE SESSIONS

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 (Bernama) -- Employers and their foreign maids will
soon be required to attend a special dialogue session at the Malaysia's Human
Resources Ministry every six months to ensure that both parties understand their
rights and responsibilities, Minister Dr S. Subramaniam said Thursday.

"This will ensure that the employers and maids are aware of their rights and
also the do’s and don’ts," he told reporters after a meeting with the ministry’s
training providers and trainees, here.

He said the dialogue was aimed at enhancing understanding and cooperation
between both the parties in the effort to prevent abuse by either side.

"My officers will give detailed information on the laws and rules governing
maids, and the employers’ responsibilities," he said, adding that the ministry
would also distribute an information booklet to them.

The dialogue session would replace the planned random house-to-house visit
by the Labour Department to check on maids, which was supposed to have been
launched on Dec 1.


The dialogue has been introduced following a few cases of abuse involving
maids and employers which led to Indonesia, the main supplier of maids to
Malaysia, freezing the sending of maids pending talks with Kuala Lumpur.

On illegal foreign workers in the country, Dr Subramaniam said the number
had reached 1.5 million people, many of them from Indonesia and Bangladesh.

He said he had spoken to Home Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein
on ways to overcome the influx of illegal foreign workers in the country.

He also said that the ministry would soon announce a reasonable minimum wage
and working hours for workers in the security (guard) sector, which would
attract Malaysians to take up the profession.

"At present, locals were not interested because of the salary structure, and
security agencies have been hiring foreigners as security guards," he said,
referring to a news report that a large number of Nepalese were being hired as
security guards in the country.

-- BERNAMA