Measure will ease employers’ burden
DPM: Direct hiring of maids will cut costs
BAGAN DATUK: Allowing Malaysians to hire maids directly from source countries will surely relieve their financial burden greatly, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
He was commenting on the new measure introduced under Budget 2018, which allows employers to engage directly with maid service providers from the nine source countries including Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam and Bangladesh.
The move is expected to halve the costs of hiring maids compared to getting them through maid agencies where the levy and processing fees charged by agents could range between RM12,000 and RM18,000.
“This measure would surely relieve the financial burden of civil servants and private employees,’’ said Dr Ahmad Zahid.
“There are some foreign workers who would have to switch between three to four employers in a year. Which means that employers could be paying up to RM80,000 a year when they do not have such spending power to keep hiring maids when the agent changes them,” he said here yesterday.
Dr Ahmad Zahid, who is also Home Minister, said employers can apply for the maids’ social visit visas online. (They have a validity of 30 days.)
“Within this period, employers would then have to apply online for temporary employment permits for foreign workers (PLKS) to enable these foreigners to stay in the country to work as domestic helpers,” he said.
When asked about safety and crime con- cerns in the self-hiring of domestic helpers, Dr Ahmad Zahid said employers should not worry.
“Our country has a sufficient security system which comprises many safety features such as screening, biometric and biomedical systems,” he said.
He was speaking to reporters after launching the Bagan Datuk-Kampung Sejagop Bridge Construction Project ground-breaking ceremony. The project, with Naza Engineering & Construction Sdn Bhd (Naza EC) at the helm as contractor, costs RM446.9mil.
Dr Ahmad Zahid, who is Bagan Datuk MP, said Budget 2018 tabled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, has been widely covered by the media in addition to the positive response received from the public.
“At the same time, this shuts down all negative accusations, saying that our country is going bankrupt with no good economic growth. How can a nation, that is apparently going bankrupt, afford a RM446.9mil allocation to build a new bridge in Bagan Datuk?” he asked.
The bridge will be built across Sungai Perak and is expected to cut down travel time between Bagan Datuk and Perak Tengah from one hour to just 15 minutes. It is expected to be completed on July 2, 2020.