KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 ― Malaysians who want to hire maids directly from source countries have seven other options open to them if they cannot find domestic workers from Indonesia and the Philippines.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Malaysian employers now face a shortage of helpers because the minimum wage set by the two traditional source countries is too high.

He said Indonesia had requested for RM1,200 per month for its maids and set job specifications.

In 2015, Philippines formalised a monthly minimum wage of US$400 (RM1,647.56) for its domestic workers.

"I don’t think our employers can afford RM1,200 for a helper, therefore we should hire someone at a reasonable wage," he said.

"With the job specification demanded by the Indonesian authorities, it is not feasible to have three maids in one household to do three different tasks,” Zahid, who is Home Minister, told Malay Mail when met at his office at the Parliament building, here, yesterday.

He said the government had to consider the average take-home pay of employers in order to approve the minimum wage requirement set by source countries.

Though the government has held high-level meetings with the countries, they too must understand Malaysia’s position.

To date, he said only Indonesia and the Philippines had demanded minimum wage for domestic workers, while other source countries — Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar — have no specific base pay.

Ahmad Zahid said hiring domestic workers directly would save employers 50 per cent in costs.

"Employers currently pay between RM12,000 and RM18,000 to bring a foreign domestic helper.

"This move is to reduce the cost, and more importantly, cut red tape. It’s like buying building materials for your own house,” he said.

In terms of training, Ahmad Zahid said the government, through the Human Resources Ministry, had requested that the maids be trained in their respective countries before working in Malaysia.

"They need to know our culture, the do’s and don’ts, as well as the basic language. Otherwise, there will be no correlation between them and their future employers,” he said.

Moving forward to becoming more self-sufficient in the workforce, Ahmad Zahid the government would continue sourcing workers from other countries but priority would be given to local employees.

He said focus should also be given to Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to produce semi-skilled and skilled workers to reduce the dependency of foreigners.

"During the moratorium imposed by certain countries, many hired local maids and the interest among our people for local workers is increasing.

"With the online registration programmes vetting every application, our dependence on foreign labour will decline eventually,” said Ahmad Zahid, adding continuous operations by the authorities against illegal immigrants would decrease the numbers.

"We hope Malaysians will change their mindset when it comes to working in various sectors, especially construction, services, manufacturing, plantation and domestic help,” he said.

At the recent tabling of Budget 2018 on Oct 27, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that employers were allowed to hire foreign domestic helpers directly from nine selected countries without going through an agent.

Though there are risks involved in hiring help directly, Ahmad Zahid said it was a question of getting the right agent and being cautious by doing proper vetting.

He said the risks could also be minimised by working closely with the authorities.

"This is not the outsourcing era anymore. Our online registration will keep all workers’ data, which would make any attempt to run away futile.

"All this is done with the cooperation of their respective embassies or high commissions. They are very helpful,” he said.

Following the Budget announcement, maid and employers organisations voiced their concern over the risk of unlicensed maid agents who overcharge for their services.

Ahmad Zahid said the government was willing to work with organisations such as the Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (Papa) and the Malaysian Maid Employers’ Association (Mama) if they could help employers in reducing the cost of hiring foreign domestic workers.