Petaling Jaya (The Star/ANN) - Maid agencies in Malaysia are highly doubtful if the promised arrival of Indonesian maids in two weeks will actually take place as there are extensive legal processes to go through first.
Maid agent Fiona Low said Malaysian agencies were still waiting for their counterparts in Indonesia to sign the job order to proceed with recruitment.
"At the moment, there is no official recruitment being carried out in Indonesia as they do not have the job order in hand," she said when contacted.
She also added that it was impossible for maids to arrive in two weeks as they had to process their legal documents, undergo a month's training and a medical examination before arriving here.
Another maid agent P. Preminder said it was "impossible" for maids to arrive within two weeks.
"Somewhere around a month would be more logical," he said.
Asked about the 4,511 ringgit fee set during the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on Monday, he said it was a good thing provided there were no hidden costs.
Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (Papa) acting president Jeffrey Foo said the figure was unrealistic.
Foo said the initial fees, which included 2,711 ringgit that is to be paid by the employer and 1,800 ringgit of the maid's salary paid in advance to the agency providing the maids, was too low compared with what employers used to pay in the past.
He said the new MoU had created a scenario in which it would be impossible for maid agencies to engage Indonesian maids.
"Previously, employers used to pay 5,000 ringgit to 6,000 ringgit in recruitment fees for an Indonesian maid.
"The new costing may be good for employers but the initial fees set under the MoU are very unrealistic, especially when the country is facing competition from Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong for the maids," he said.
The new MoU was signed between Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta on Monday to end a two-year freeze on Indonesian maids coming to work in Malaysia.
Both countries agreed that the salary be determined by market forces but Indonesia requested that such wages should not be lower than the minimum wage in Indonesia.
The wages for domestic maids in Indonesia range between 600,000 rupiah and 1.2mil rupiah.
Foo said Papa recommended the proper pricing to the Government before the MoU was signed but it was not accepted.
He hoped that the Government would study the appeal and reconsider the initial fees so that Malaysia could still attract Indonesian maids.
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