Over 18,000 runaway maids up to Dec

KUALA LUMPUR (June 21, 2011): The government has implemented a biometric system since June 1 to prevent runaway maids from gaining reemployment with a new employer, said Deputy Human Resource Minister Datuk Maznah Mazlan.

She said the system will be able to detect foreign maids who had been reported missing by their employers, if the maids attempted to apply for a new work permit.

“Until December last year, there has been a total of 18,716 reported cases of runaway maids, from which 92.3% or 17,205 were from Indonesia,” revealed Maznah in Parliament.

She said there were a total of 247,069 foreign maids employed within the same period and Indonesian domestic helpers made up 72.3% from the figure.

Maznah was responding to Lim Lip Eng (DAP-Segambut) who asked the government to state measures which have been taken to solve the problem of runaway maids.

“Since March last year, the Labour Department has been conducting monthly seminars and dialogue sessions for employers, foreign domestic helpers as well as maid agencies to educate the parties on their respective rights and responsibilities,” she said, adding that the exercise has since benefited 1,869 employers, 1,650 domestic helpers and 365 maid agencies.

The information has also been compiled into a comprehensive guidebook Foreign Maids Employment (Penggajian Pembantu Rumah Asing).

Noting that Indonesia continues to be the largest supplier of domestic helpers to Malaysia despite a two-year freeze, which was recently lifted through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Bandung last month, Maznah said the revised terms will now offer more protection for employers whose maids had ran away.

Among others, employers will stand to get free replacements if their maids ran away within six months of employment.

A joint working group (JWG) formed by representatives from both Malaysia and Indonesia has also been formed following the Mou signing in order to monitor implementation of the revised terms by all parties concerned.