Employers who ill-treat their foreign domestic helpers to be blacklisted - Saravanan

Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said the ministry would not compromise with any employer for abuses such as not paying their foreign maid's salary.

"Although there have been isolated cases of employers ill-treating their domestic helpers, these have however tarnished the country's image and good name like the case reported by a news portal on an Indonesian domestic helper not being paid a salary even after serving the employer for 12 years.

"This has also affected the government's effort at concluding the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on hiring domestic helpers from the source countries such as Indonesia and Cambodia.

"Issues like this have also resulted in the MoU with the Indonesian government to be not renewed since 2016," he said in a statement today.

Saravanan said although foreign domestic helpers were categorised as workers in the informal sector, they had rights as workers and their welfare should be well cared for.

"In fact, the job contract for foreign domestic workers also outlines the responsibilities of the employers that hire them," he added.

Up to Jan 31, 2022, the total number of foreign workers was 1,157,481, with 86,084 of them being domestic helpers and the majority (59,605) are from Indonesia, followed by the Philippines (22,803), Vietnam (1,031), Camboda (976) and other countries.

Saravanan said his ministry and the Home Ministry would continue to work closely with the Manpower Department of Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak, and Immigration Department in tackling the issues.