Govt Plans To Stop Sending Housemaids Abroad By 2017

Kuala Lumpur, Dec 19 (ANTARA) - The government has planned to stop sending Indonesian housemaids abroad by 2017, according to Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Muhaimin Iskandar. "However, the moratorium will be implemented in stages, because the demand for housemaid services abroad is still strong," he said here on Tuesday. "We have stopped sending housemaids to Saudi Arabia. We will now send only a limited number of maids to Malaysia, although we will stop it altogether by 2017," Iskandar stated. �The government has prepared an alternative solution. These housemaids will now be used to meet the rising domestic demand for such services,� he continued. Iskandar said countries wishing to employ Indonesian housemaids must comply with the terms and conditions set by the government. "The housemaids shall be treated as formal workers, who will have regular working hours," he added.