Wanita Umno against RM1,200 wage for domestic maids

They already get free meals and a place to stay, says Shahrizat

KUALA LUMPUR: Wanita Umno is opposed to a proposal to raise the minimum wage of domestic servants to RM1,200 a month, its leader, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, said today.

She said many Malaysian families could not afford to pay that much.

Sharizat said the proposal was “unreasonable” considering that RM1,200 would exceed the statutory minimum wage for Malaysian workers.

Furthermore, she added, domestic maids enjoyed several benefits not available to other workers, such as free meals and a place to stay.

“We in Wanita Umno are clearly against the proposal,” Shahrizat told reporters covering the launch of Pasarnita, a government initiative to encourage entrepreneurship among women.

She said she would appeal to the government to negotiate further with Indonesian authorities.

In his statement on Friday, the Indonesian Embassy’s deputy chief of mission Hermono, said the wages Indonesian maids were getting in Malaysia were lower than what their counterparts were getting in other countries.