Friday, 29 February 2008

Rising demand for Cambodian maids

Koun Vannak: Had a good employer during her three
Low: Also supplies Cambodian maids.
Caring for the young: The Cambodian maids learning to take care of babies.
Hands-on: Maids learning how to tend to senior citizens at Sri Nadin Sdn Bhd’s training centre in Jalan Yap Kwan Seng.

thestar.com.my
Friday February 29, 2008

By YIP YOKE TENG

THERE is a rise in the demand for maids from countries other than Indonesia, like from Cambodia.

Philimore Sdn Bhd managing director Y.S. Liew said the employment of Cambodian maids had increased over the past two years.

He said he anticipated a further increase in the near future.

“Cambodian maids were not that in demand at first due to the language barrier. Now, we fly in more than 200 Cambodian maids a month,” he said.

According to Liew, of about 300,000 maids here, Indonesians make up 90% while Cambodians and Filipinos number 8% and 2% respectively.

“Cambodian maids are getting popular as employers like their attitude.''

“They are also eager to learn and are self disciplined. Many employers prefer them even though communication is rather difficult. In fact, the language barrier is an advantage as others cannot influence them easily.

“The salary scale is almost the same - RM550 for Indonesians and RM590 for Cambodian maids,” he added.

An employer from Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, Ng Shih Shing, said the Cambodian maid he had employed in 2006 had become part of the family.

“She speaks very little English but learns very fast. She even follows us to church,” he said.

“I had three Indonesian maids who gave me various problems and the fourth one ran away a day after she arrived. When I reported it to the police, they said there was an average of eight cases a day,” he added.

His maid, Rose, 21, from Siem Reap, had worked in Malaysia for three years before taking up the second contract.

“It's all right working here. I last took home RM13,000 and gave it to my family. I want to earn more to buy a house,” she said.

Another Cambodian maid, Koun Vannak, 25, said she had a good employer during her three years in Malaysia and had come back to earn more money.

Sri Nadin Sdn Bhd is another agency supplying Vietnamese maids and its general manager Fiona Low said employers opted for Vietnamese maids as this was “something new”.

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