KUALA LUMPUR: More Malaysians will be able to hire foreign maids with the much reduced cost of recruitment set by the government, said the Malaysian Maid Employers Association (MAMA).
Its president Engku Ahmad Fauzi Engku Muhsein said his association and Malaysians at large welcomed the new price, which directly paves the way to meeting the demands of maid recruitment in the country.
“It has now been cut down to half. We really thank the government for doing this as it saves a lot of the cost.
“The only issue would be paying for the frequent medical checkups the maids are required to undergo. In normal situations, employers are the ones who will have to bear the costs,” he told the New Straits Times today.
Engku Ahmad was commenting on Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s announcement today that employers who want to directly recruit foreign maids will now only have to pay RM1,635 online instead of RM18,000 previously.
After chairing a cabinet meeting on foreign workers and illegal foreigners, Zahid had said that the direct recruitment of foreign maids enabled employers to enjoy a discount of up to 90 percent.
This was gladly welcomed by MAMA, who said it will greatly ease the process of maid recruitment in the future.
Zahid also announced that in adhering to rules and regulations set by two source countries, employers who wished to hire maids from Indonesia and the Philippines would have to apply from the registered companies with their respective labour ministries starting Jan 1 next year.
To this, Engku Ahmad had some reservations, primarily on why they need to do so and how do they identify which companies were registered and which were not.
He questioned whether employers had to go to the respective country embassies or directly to the companies themselves.
“I also expect them to request a particular fee for their services. I hope whatever they charge would not be too exorbitant.”
He urged authorities to offer more clarity on the process of hiring foreign maids so Malaysians can do so easily.
Reducing the cost of recruitment, he added, was the first step and he was happy the government had done so.