Advert urging Malaysians to fire Indonesian maids angers Jakarta

JAKARTA: Indonesia on Wednesday urged Malaysia to ban an advertisement by a Malaysian company selling robotic vacuum cleaners that tells people to dismiss their Indonesian maids.
The ad by Robovac Malaysia sparked anger in Indonesia after a picture of it was posted on the Internet.
"Fire your Indonesian maid now," said the ad, with the word "Indonesian" underlined.
"The ad by the private company Robovac is utterly insensitive and demeaning to the people of Indonesia," the Indonesian embassy in Malaysia said.
"We urge Malaysian authorities to ban the ad," it said.
The embassy said it had consulted lawyers to consider legal action.
"The use of the slogan shows the product is shoddy because they rely on bombastic language to stir a controversy," an Indonesian, Danan Pradana, said on Twitter.
About 2 million Indonesians work in Malaysia, mainly as domestic help and menial labourers. – dpa