KUALA SELANGOR, Jan 16 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and Indonesia are sill having negotiations to resolve some outstanding issues pertaining to the recruitment of domestic maids from the republic, said Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam.
He said discussions pertaining to maids, would go on between both countries in the meantime until a mutual understanding was achieved.
"We have been discussing the maid issue with Indonesia for some time but there are a few conditions which the Indonesian government wants us to meet, namely granting a weekly day off for the maids and permission to keep their own passports.
"From the survey which we have done, Malaysian employers are not very keen on these two conditions. As such, both the countries would continue having discussions on the matter and I hope that some kind of flexibility would be given to us to resolve the issue.
"We hope to strike a balance between both countries on this issue to move forward," he told reporters after attending the 1Malaysia Ponggal festival officiated by Deputy Minister of Information Communication and Culture, Datuk Maglin Dennis D'Cruz near here, Sunday.
Subramaniam was responding to the front page news report in a Malay daily today that some 30,000 Indonesian maids were waiting to be brought into Malaysia to fill up the vacancies, despite the temporary freeze imposed by Indonesia on their maids.
On June 2009, Jakarta had issued a freeze order on maids from the country to Malaysia, following reports of abuse by employers.
Currently, about 90 per cent of the maids working in Malaysia are from Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Maglin at the press conference said he would propose to the government and MIC soon on the possibility of including the Ponggal festival in the calendar.
He said the festival had the potential of uniting Indians together and should become a yearly affair.
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