Timor Leste Prepared To Send Maids To Malaysia

By Sharifah Hunaini Syed Ismail KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 (Bernama) -- Timor Leste is prepared to send its women to work as domestic maids in Malaysia if Indonesia plans to stop doing so. Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste to Malaysia, Jose Antonio Amorim Dias said the republic could provide up to 50,000 people, to be sent in stages, to Malaysia to work as domestic maids. "Prior to this, there has been discussion with the Malaysian government on the issue of domestic maids from Timor Leste, but until now, there is no development on the matter. "We are prepared (to send) if the Malaysian government wants to discuss the matter further. If the agreement has been signed, with the terms agreed by both parties, it will not be a problem for us to supply maids to this country," he said when contacted by Bernama here. Amorim Dias said Timor Leste welcomed the move to have its people working as maids in Malaysia considering the good relations enjoyed by both countries. "Furthermore, there is no language problem as most of the Timor Leste people speak the Indonesian language which makes it easy for them to communicate with the people in Malaysia," he said. The republic, he said, had been sending its people to work in countries like United Kingdom and South Korea. "What we did with South Korea is that after the agreement was signed, South Korea sent its representatives to Timor Leste to teach the workers their language, culture and work scope. "Likewise with Malaysia, if it has been agreed to bring maids from Timor Leste, Malaysia can then send its representative to train our people," he added. On May 20, 2002, Timor Timur, which was then the 27th province in Indonesia, was declared an independent country and took the name of Timor Leste. Malaysia is expected to face shortage of maids if Indonesia is adamant in wanting to stop sending its women to work as maids abroad beginning next year. The move is said to be in line with an announcement by the Indonesian government in its Domestic Worker Roadmap 2017 to stop sending its people to work as maids abroad to protect the interests of its citizens. President of the Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (PAPA) Jeffrey Foo, when contacted by Bernama, said currently, there were about 150,000 foreigners working as maids in Malaysia and about 50,000 of them were from Indonesia. --BERNAMA