Kuala Lumpur (ANTARA News) - Malaysia plans to recruit maids from Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand to reduce its reliance on the supply of domestic helpers from Indonesia, especially now that Indonesia has temporarily stopped the dispatch of its maids, until a deal is reached on better employment conditions.

Malaysian Labor Affairs Director Ismail Abdul Rahim said with the recruitment of maids from the three countries, Malaysian employers will have a choice, Bernama said Wednesday.

At present there are 251,255 foreign domestic helpers in Malaysia, 230,141 of whom are foreign and 92 percent came from Indonesia, not to mention illegals.

Indonesia has since June 26, 2009 temporarily stopped sending domestic helpers to Malaysia prompted by the cases of rough handling and treatment by their employers. Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to revise the bilateral MoU of 2006 for better employment conditions of foreign maids in Malaysia.

The two countries have agreed that passports will no longer be kept by the employers, but kept by the maids themselves, who will also be entitled to a day off each week. There will also be minimum and maximum wages, and a joint supervisory team of the two countries to monitor the implementation of the agreement.

Despite the agreement, the two countries have yet to sign the revised 2006 MoU, so that the decision to stop sending maids to Malaysia is still effective.

The media has often reported Malaysia`s wishes to recruit foreign maids from other countries but it has yet to be carried out. Firstly, the Philippines set the wages of its maids at RM 1,400 per month, which is rather difficult for the Malaysian employers to meet, especially that the Philippines has very tight regulations on the affairs of its maids.

Likewise with regard to Cambodia and Thailand, which may set high wages and tight conditions for their domestic helpers apparently for their protection in Malaysia. Language is also posing a problem to foreign maids in Malaysia.(*)