SEREMBAN: Government’s announcement that employers will soon be allowed to hire foreign domestic helpers without going through an agent is seen as a good move by the public.
Businesswoman Norain Asarulah Khan, 28, said the matter would ease their burden, especially when they have to cough up thousands of ringgit just to get foreign domestic helper through the agent.
“This is definitely good news for us, especially for working mothers like me. All this while, we are torn between career and taking care of our kids and many had to give up their job as getting a maid through an agent is just too expensive,” she said.
Norain said by hiring foreign domestic helper directly from a selected country would also give more freedom for employers to choose the helper according to their preferences.
“I feel it is safer since we will be able to know the helper beforehand. We can also minimise the risk of being cheated by the agent,” she said.
In the 2018 Budget tabled yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that employers can now opt to engage maids directly from nine selected source countries.
For Norzita Ismail, Syarikat Air Negeri Sembilan head of public relations division, the new development has its pros and cons.
“By going through the agent, I think it will save us the hassle of having to handle the documentation process, which can be tiresome. There’s also guarantee for maid replacement in case of anything,” she said.
“However, going through the agent is definitely too expensive. So cost-wise, the announcement is definitely a positive development which can help the people,” she said.
For 23-year-old makeup artiste Ema Noor Hidayah Supriyanto, hiring foreign helper without going through the agent was definitely cost effective.
The mother of two children said the low cost will give more options to the public to hire domestic helper to smoothen their daily operation.
“Although it’s quite risky as we may not know the background of the helper, in terms of cost, it definitely will be the best option for working parents to get a helper to help them with house chores and taking care of the children when they are at work,” she said.