Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
Guo Biying
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 23, 2013): The issue of maids running away from their respective employers could be resolved if Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (Papa) and Indonesian Manpower Services Association (Apjati) come up with a more affordable hiring scheme.
MCA public complaints bureau head Datuk Seri Michael Chong told theSun that from 2011 to 2013, his department has received 49 complaints on the exorbitant fees imposed by licensed and unlicensed foreign workers agencies in Malaysia.
“The total loss recorded was over RM330,000. And from these cases, 23 maids ran away without their employers knowing it. To resolve this issue, I urge Papa and Apjati to draft a fair cost structure that will not burden the public. They shouldn’t be making unreasonable profit from the service,” Chong said.
“The terms and price must be right for those employing the maids so that they can afford to pay them and in turn the maid will not run away as they know that they will be paid every month,” he said.
Chong said many agents leveraged on Journey Perform (JP) visas to recruit the “maids” and have brought misery to many household and employers, who have paid exorbitant fees with being given neither guarantee on quality nor reliability.
He was commenting on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s announcement last Thursday that Malaysia and Indonesia had agreed to allow maid recruitment agencies in both countries to work on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enable more Indonesian maids to work in the country.
Source: The Sun Daily
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