Malaysia, Indonesia leaders fail to resolve maid crisis

May 18, 2010, 9:02 GMT

Kuala Lumpur - The Indonesian government showed no sign of lifting its ban on sending maids to Malaysia after the leaders of both nations failed to agree Tuesday on a minimum wage for the domestic workers.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed a labour pact Tuesday stating several new working conditions for Indonesian maids but were unable to agree on a minimum wage.

The issue 'will continue to be discussed between the two countries,' Najib said at a press conference after the two leaders held a short meeting in the Malaysian administrative capital of Putrajaya.

The systems in Indonesia and Malaysia are different, 'so it complicates matters,' Najib said.

In June, Indonesia imposed a ban on agencies sending domestic workers to Malaysia after several reports of violent maid abuse.

Jakarta had said the ban would not be lifted until working conditions of the maids, who were not protected under local labour laws, were improved.

Indonesian maids currently claim the lowest salary among foreign domestic workers in Malaysia with monthly wages starting at 450 ringgit (135 dollars), and they are required to work seven days a week.

The Indonesian workers also give up their travel and work documents to their employers as security, but the system has been abused by unscrupulous employers holding their workers to ransom.

Non-governmental organizations claim that every year, hundreds of maids lodge complaints against their employers ranging from ill treatment to nonpayment of salaries.

Najib said Tuesday that the new labour pact would require Malaysian employers to give their maids one day off a week and foreign maids would also be able to keep their passports.

However, he declined to give an estimate of when the maid ban would be lifted, saying only that the deadlock was likely to be resolved once a solution to the issue of minimum wage is reached.

'[Indonesia] has suggested a figure, but it needs more discussion because it has implications for workers in this country,' Najib said.

Earlier news reports quoted Indonesian government officials of demanding a minimum monthly wage of 800 ringgit, which local maid agencies have said is unreasonably high.

Malaysia is home to more than 300,000 Indonesian maids with a growing number of domestic workers from Cambodia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Before the ban, Indonesian agencies were sending more than 4,000 maids each month.

Local newspapers reported Monday that the ban had created a thriving business of smuggling illegal workers from Indonesia to meet the high demand for labour.