Monday January 10, 2011
35,000 families badly hit by shortage of maids
PETALING JAYA: Tens of thousands of families are in a lurch as the shortage of foreign maids has become more acute. With only about 200 foreign maids arriving monthly compared to more than 1,000 several months ago, the waiting list is getting longer by the day.
Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (Papa) estimated that about 35,000 families were in desperate need of maids with the average waiting time now stretching to more than seven months.
The problem is caused by a continued freeze imposed by Indonesia – the biggest supplier of domestic helpers – on its people from coming to Malaysia as maids since last year. Now, it has been worsened with Cambodia being unable to meet the shortfall.
On average, 7,000 maids are needed per month to replace those who go home after their contracts expire, but the number of new arrivals is less than 5% of that figure, Papa secretary Foo Yong Hooi said.
He said the problem was temporarily solved when Malaysia opened its door to maids from Cambodia, but after about eight months of high demand, the country now faced difficulties in supplying enough maids.
He said Cambodia would be able to supply more maids if the Government was willing to lower the minimum age limit of maids to 18 years from the current 21.
“The supply of maids from the country for those above the age of 21 is currently overstretched. This is because many in that age-group are already starting a family and are not willing to come here,” he added.
He said Papa had already made a formal request to the Home and Human Resources ministries last year to lower the age limit when the shortage first began to become serious.
“We do not know how much longer we can sustain with this (maid shortage),” Foo added. A Cambodian delegation of maid agencies and labour officials is expected to arrive next week to discuss the issue of lowering the age requirement with the relevant authorities.
“The age requirement is a concern for our Cambodian counterparts,” he said. For industry players, the more important issue was not just to find a temporary solution but to look at the primary issue – the continuing freeze of maid supply from Indonesia.
“I believe the Government has done what it can. We always welcome maids from Indonesia. The Government has made its offer. The ball is now in Indonesian’s court. “The impasse will not end unless Indonesia lifts its moratorium on the hiring of maids,” Foo said.
Maids from Indonesia and Cambodia are sought after by many families because their monthly wage is affordable at around RM600 compared to the RM1,200 for maids from the Philippines.
Malaysia has also opened its doors to maids from Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, Nepal and India. However, Foo said, there were still some issues that needed to be resolved before domestic helpers from these countries could be brought in in large numbers.
Among the issues that needed to be addressed were related to wages and rest days.
