Indonesia to ban exporting maids overseas

Indonesia’s government looks to end the practice of domestic helpers employed overseas in an attempt to preserve the country's pride and dignity, said Indonesian President Joko Widodo at a recent meeting of the National Congress.

Indonesia to ban exporting maids overseas (Source: freemalaysiatoday.co)

Widodo added that he has instructed relevant ministries and agencies to design a strategy to prevent the need for female domestic workers going abroad.

Indonesia initially targeted the conclusion of the practice for 2017, but the President is looking to accelerate the deadline after a number of severe incidents have occurred, including the recent case of torture in Hong Kong (China ).

It is estimated that 2.3 million Indonesians are working abroad, mostly in Malaysia , Singapore and other Gulf countries. Around 1.2 million are working illegally and more than half are believed to work as maids.

A ban on Indonesian maids working overseas would have major impacts on Singapore and Malaysia , who depend heavily on Indonesia for domestic help.

There are 125,000 Indonesian maids in Singapore, making up about half of the domestic worker population in the country. A round 109,000 maids from Indonesia are working in Malaysia.

Dtinews.vn