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MARAN, June 22 (Bernama) — The government is still undergoing negotiations with the Indonesian government on the recruitment of maids from that country, said Deputy Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Abdul Mutalib.
He said, so far, there were still many matters that had yet to be finalised, including the issue of registration processing fee, training, examination and health,
“The registration processing fee of RM7,800 being proposed before this is said to be still cheap compared to other countries like Singapore, Saudi Arabia and West Asian countries,
“The recruitment of maids cannot be finalised due to this situation,” he told reporters after officiating the Chenor Area Farmers’ Organisation seventh general meeting in Kampung Awah Sunday.
Ismail said the country needed at least between three million to four million housemaids because of the high demands for Indonesian maids.
Even though 14 countries, including the Philippines, Indonesai, Myanmar and Bangladesh, also supplied such manpower to the country, he said it still could not meet the demands of the sector, which was previously monopolised by Indonesia.
Ismail also reminded the people to get legal housemaids and not through illegal agents to avoid them from incurring high costs besides losses if these maids run away.
He said employers who recruited maids from agencies that were registered with the government were entitled to get new replacements.
On another issue, he said the minimum salary scheme coordination to be implemented after this August was the result of consultations between the employers, workers, Bank Negara, International Labour Organisation (ILO) and National Wages Consultative Council
He said it was not a decision set by the government as claimed by the opposition to allegedly force the employers to implement the scheme.
“The government is merely the middlemen to receive the outcome of the consultations from the parties’ involved,” he said, — BERNAMA
Source: Bernama
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