PUTRAJAYA: Do not hire foreign domestic workers through dubious means, the government has reminded.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said domestic workers from abroad were already allowed to enter the country.

“I do not want employers, out of desperation, to encourage people to do things which are not good,” he told reporters after the launch of Keluarga Malaysia Vehicle Insurance Financing programme here yesterday.

Saravanan did not specify the action that could be taken against employers resorting to questionable means to obtain a foreign maid.

He was commenting on a report in The Star yesterday which stated that some desperate employers were resorting to “unofficial channels” to obtain domestic workers from abroad.

These employers said they were fed up waiting for Indonesian maids.

Both governments had signed a memorandum of understanding on April 1 to resume the recruitment of Indonesian domestic workers.

The report stated that some employers were seeking maids via social media and freelance agents.

On May 31, it was announced that the placement of the first batch of Indonesian domestic workers expected to arrive in Malaysia, had been postponed.

The Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia, Hermono, said the pioneer batch was only expected to come in mid-July.