Indonesian Maids Should be Paid USD 227 a Month

Indonesia’s demand that its maids be paid a minimum 800 ringgit ($227.1) monthly salary has hit a raw nerve among Malaysians.

Indonesia’s demand that its maids be paid a minimum RM800 monthly salary has hit a raw nerve among Malaysians.

“Not all of us are getting a four-figure pay packet . Wait for us to progress, then such a request can be deemed feasible,” Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) Kedah chapter chairman Pishol Ishak said.

He said many Matta members could not afford to pay RM800 (S$327) monthly to their general workers, what more a similar sum for foreign maids.

Calling for rationality, he said: “As much as we value the role played by maids, particularly from Indonesia, the salary expectation must be in tandem with the earning power of Malaysians too.”

Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia Da’i Bachtiar has been quoted in press reports as saying that the republic is pressing for the minimum wage following cases of maid abuse by Malaysian employers.

Tags: Indonesia, maids, malaysia

This entry was posted on September 7, 2009 at September 7, 2009 and is filed under Blogger Indonesia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Nyubi
September 7, 2009 at 5:03 am

What’s commodity that Indonesian not export? Coz even maid has been export commodity

akhlis
September 8, 2009 at 8:34 am

It’s not only about how much money this nation can get to compensate the overall damage (physical injuries/and permanent disability to live normally,unhealed psychological ‘wounds’), but it’s also about how much dignity this nation must sacrifice, again and again. I get sick of reading or watching news reporting our fellow Indonesians tortured in Malaysia. I’m not against poverty-ridden people who want to earn a living there, but there must be a way to make money without being humiliated incessantly by our neighboring country. They look down on Indonesia because this country exports poverty there. I’m not blaming the maids for being not so rich or not properly educated because no one wants to be in such an unfortunate shoe. But it seems to me the government has done anything substantial to fix this.

I watched a talkshow presenting our minister whose name I forgot, but the point he was making was Indonesia is always humiliated by its neighboring countries (in spite of their smaller size) because it is POOR. With poverty burdening on its shoulders, it’s harder for Indonesia to move forward, to make progress, to become a big nation any other countries deserve to respect. To sum up, they don’t respect us as we give them reasons to disrespect us.
indonesia, stop exporting house maids/manual workers and start exporting experts, teachers, professionals, or scientists!