RM8,000 Fee To Hire Indonesian Maids!

Finally the official news is out today, albeit this has been the fee charged by maid agencies for the past one year. The RM8k fee is NOT INCLUSIVE of the maid's 6 months' salary in advance! To summarize it all, we employers have to cough out AT LEAST RM12,200 to hire an Indonesian maid and even more to hire a Filipina maid. I remember that I only needed to pay RM3,000 as non-refundable agency fee to the maid agent about 10 years ago to hire our first maid. Those were the good old days which are now a part of the Malaysian history. We can no longer hire maids freely and easily.

Actually I do not mind paying the RM12,200 once-off payment to hire a maid. I know that a live-in maid can bring some relief and help to me and would enable me to spend some quality time with my kids.  But what if the maid runs away after the 3 months guarantee period? Or if I am given a maid sent from h*ll?  There are many unscrupulous maid agencies around who would abet with the maid to run away after the 3-month guarantee period.

Since our money does not come by freely and easily, I'd rather take on the maid role myself and see how the maid situation turns out in the months to come. If you have been following the on-going maid issue, you will realize that the situation is fluid. Policies keep changing. And the agreements between Malaysia and Indonesia   keep ending in a deadlock. My option is still not entirely closed.  I may still consider hiring a maid when the right one comes along at the right time. You know, there are really such right timing gifts in life. I just have to wait for it to come.

Would you spend over RM12,500 to hire a live-in maid? I know some families have no choice but to bite the bullet and employ a maid to help take care of their kids or aged parents while they are at work.

Here is the news article extracted from The Star website today:

ANOTHER amount has been proposed for the contentious hiring fee for Indonesian maids, with the Government putting it at RM8,000. 
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who chaired the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers and Illegal Immigrants, said that the new rate was decided after considering all costs from both Malaysia and Indonesia.

“The RM8,000 was decided after considering the cost of training for at least 200 hours, documentation, food and accommodation before transfer to the new employers, travelling cost, medical check-ups as well as payment to the respective government agencies of both countries,” he said at a meeting at Parliament House yesterday. 

It was reported under the Memo­randum of Understanding (MoU) between the Malaysian and Indone­sian governments in 2011, the cost to recruit Indonesian maids was set at a RM4,511 – where RM2,711 was paid by the employer and RM1,800 was paid by the domestic helper. 

Muhyiddin said the changes of the structural cost would be brought for further discussion by both governments. 

“The details will be explained by the Human Resources Ministry after the approval from both sides,” he said. 

He said the new revised rates was considered reasonable compared to the other countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong who were paying Indonesian domestic helpers at higher rates. 

Muhyiddin added that the salary of Indonesian maids will not be bound by the Minimum Wages Act 2012; and will instead be based on the current market prices and the employer. 

The Government, he said, will also fully suspend the Journey Perform Visa (JP Visa) in October this year. “Previously, the Immigration Dep­artment had allowed the issuance of JP Visa due to problems of supply of Indonesian maid based on a case by case basis, where only 290 were successfully recruited,” he said.

Paranoid of Made In China Food Products

Today I threw away a few packets of biscuits that an aunt bought for the girls from the pasar malam (night market) last week coz I think those biscuits had milk in them. I am not taking any chances after reading so much news on the milk powder scare in China. Before eating or drinking anything now, I will check the packaging thoroughly to ensure that the product is not made in China. Alycia came home from school today with a party pack consisting of biscuits, crackers and other junk food. I threw away a few items when I saw the dreaded words "made in China"! Am I too paranoid? Well, better paranoid and be safe than sorry, right?

Oh yeah, my brothers and I ate quite a bit of the 'White Rabbit' milk candies when we were young more than 2 decades ago. How we loved those candies with edible papers. O_o, I just hope that the manufacturer did not taint those candies with melamine then!

Also, Alycia and Sherilyn ate loads of Baby Bites rice crackers a few years ago and I read from one of the mummy's blogs yesterday that Baby Bites were made in China and had milk in them! Sei hmm sei!! I just hope that Baby Bites aren't tainted with melamine as well.

HK Actress Choi Siu Fun's Wedding

My cousin emailed me pix of Hong Kong actress's Choi Siu Fun's recent wedding. Do you know who her hubby is? I guess he must be a HK actor too.

Doesn't she look stunning in her wedding gown?

I really love her wedding gown!

Pix of Choi Siu Fun's guests, mostly HK celebrities :

Jessica Hsuen, one of my favorite actresses. I think she's really cool and smart... and she speaks perfect English too.




Charmaine Sheh, former Miss Hong Kong. I think she's got bad taste in her dressing.

This actress is also a former Miss Hong Kong. I think she's a tad too casual in this outfit which also made her look a tad frumpy.

Nicholas Tse and Cecilia Cheung's Baby Lucas

My cousin sent me these pictures. Who do you think baby Lucas look like? Hard to see right now but he is definitely cute!

These wealthy superstars even celebrate their baby's 100th day of birth. I wonder if they celebrate and publicize their baby's day of birth every 100 days!

Baby Lucas with daddy - superstar Nicholas Tse, mummy - superstar Cecilia Cheung, grandpa - legendary actor Patrick Tse Yin and who's the young pretty chick there? Is she Nicholas' sister?

Another Piece of Shocking News

I'm sure many of you have read the unbelievable and shocking news of a 10-year old boy who molested a 5-year old girl at a childcare centre here in yesterday's newspapers. The boy had locked the girl in the bathroom before pushing her down to the floor and molested her. Luckily another kid heard the girl's screams and alerted the teacher. What made the boy do such a horrible thing? He's only 10 years old and most boys his age have still not discovered about the birds and the bees yet. I can only surmise that the boy must have had saw his parents' intimate moments together or he could have caught hold of and watched x-rated movies or porn magazines in his house.

Childcare centres are supposedly safer than homebased babysitters as they are governed by Government acts and rules, yet this unimaginable incident had happened. I'm sure many parents who have no choice but to send their young daughters to childcare centres are now worried sick over this incident. If the caretakers at childcare centres are not careful and vigilant enough, this unwanted incident could have happened again, at any childcare centres. I am thankful I don't have to send my 2 toddler daughters to a childcare centre but at the same time, I am worried about Alycia's safety now as she attends a pre-school. Maybe it's time the relevant authorities put in force certain policies and rules to tighten the safety in childcare centres and pre-schools so that parents can leave their kids there in peace whilst they are away.

Sickening News Everyday

Every morning when I go through the newspapers, I read sickening news of rape, murder, plane crashes, fatal accidents and missing children. The latest news is on the young girl who had been sexually assaulted with objects stuck to her private part before being murdered and her body stuffed into a sports bag and left in a shop. The pervert who did that must be a sick psychopath. The one on the missing malay girl, Nurin is also heartbreaking. I can reall feel for her parents. The anguish the parents have gone through, especially when they received news of a murdered young girl stuffed in a sports bag could be that of their little girl. How would you feel if you were the parents? And some sick people could even have the heart to make prank calls to the parents. What have the world become? The days where we could just cycle round the neighborhood the whole evening have become history to our children. I guess my gals will never have the opportunity and freedom like I had to play outside our house and cycle round the neighborhood without parental supervision. I guess they will have to be escorted to everywhere they go until they reach adulthood.