More than 18,700 foreign maids ran away in 2010

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 18,716 foreign maids ran away from their employers during the whole of 2010, the Dewan Rakyat was told on Tuesday, June 21.

Human Resource Deputy Minister Datuk Maznah Mazlan said, 17,205 or 92.3% of them were from Indonesia.

"Indonesian maids comprised 76.7 per cent of the total 247,069 foreign maid population in Malaysia as at December 2010," she said replying to Lim Lip Eng (DAP-Segambut)

Maznah said the government had taken steps to resolve the issue including signing the amended protocol on the Memorandum of Understanding between Malaysia and Indonesia in Bandung, Indonesia on May 30.

The protocol would protect the interests and welfare of both the employers and maids, she said.

Under the protocol, an employer was entitled to a replacement without any charge if the maid ran away within six months of employment, she said.

Maznah also said the immigration's biometric system, implemented since June 1, could assist in tracing runaway maids if they tried to seek employment in Malaysia again.

Since March 2010, 89 seminars and dialogues had been organised and it had been attended by 1,869 employers, 1,650 maids and 365 agencies, she added. - Bernama