Indonesia has proposed that its citizens who work in Malaysia as domestic helpers be given an increase in salary.
Bernama reports that the country’s deputy chief of mission Hermono had submitted a proposal to the Human Resource Ministry for Indonesian maids to be paid RM1,200 from the current RM800.
“We propose that the wage is raised to RM1,200 per month. If wages in other countries are taken into account, it is so much higher than those offered in Malaysia,” he was quoted as saying.
He added that Indonesia has also requested that document processing be made easier and for payments on housemaids — estimated at RM1,800 per person — be removed.
Hermono told Bernama that Indonesians would opt for legal channels if “we frequently provide an official channel that is more efficient, cheaper, better wages with better protection.”
Indonesia has, since the election of its president Joko Widodo last year, been strong in its message for its people to stop working abroad as housemaids. In Malaysia, employers voiced their confidence that Malaysian households could manage despite a shortage.
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Image credit: BBC
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