Resume hiring of foreign maids to help struggling families, govt told

The government should allow the resumption of services by foreign maids amid the reopening of the economy, said Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh.

She pointed out that during the prolonged lockdown against Covid-19, many of their contracts expired.

As such, working families have had to juggle between household chores, working from home, and also managing their children who were also required to study from home, she said.

"Many young families struggled with managing online lessons for children, cooking, and simultaneously managing Zoom meetings for work.

"Many contracts for domestic helpers ended during this period and many employers were not able to find new replacements as borders have shut and fees skyrocketed," Yeoh (above) said in a statement.

With the country's international borders closed, no new domestic helpers could come into the country and many recruitment agencies were not able to sustain their operations, she added.

"The Malaysia National Association of Employment Agencies estimates about 5,000 applications for domestic helpers in a month prior to the lockdown.

"Since the lockdown, it is estimated that there are currently 10,000 to 20,000 households waiting for borders to re-open and for new domestic helpers to be allowed to enter Malaysia.

"These 20,000 households are working Malaysians struggling and desperate for assistance at home," she said.

Yeoh called on Putrajaya to reopen the sector by allowing a fast-tracked process for new domestic helpers to enter the country, subject to vaccination against Covid-19, testing, and quarantine protocols.

Yeoh, who is the former women, family, and community development deputy minister, added that any issues related to the memorandum of understanding involving the sender countries should be resolved.

"This win-win approach will assist with levy collection/income for the government and halt illegal supply or trafficking of domestic helpers.

"We must do our utmost best to retain the already-low-women participation in the workforce and not lose more of them because of lack of support at home.

"Every day counts for these struggling working families, to retain their jobs and to provide care for their loved ones at home," she said. - Mkini