Despite the Indonesian embassy’s advice to its government to end the supply of domestic maids to Malaysia indefinitely, Malaysia’s Human Resources Ministry has assured households that the maids from Indonesia will arrive this April.

The Indonesian embassy, had on Sunday, told Malaysian media that it had advised its government to stop sending maids to Malaysia indefinitely, after fresh reports of maid abuse were made known.

A swift government response in assuring Malaysian households that the supply of Indonesian maids has not been cut off is a welcomed relief, at least temporarily; for those that have been on the waiting list for domestic helpers.

After all, it was not too long ago before Indonesia had lifted a moratorium on sending maids to Malaysia that lasted about two years, following the rampant cases of maid abuse reported here. The first batch of maids from Indonesia since the ban is lifted is supposed to arrive this month.

Yet, there is no denial that Indonesian domestic workers today have more choices in terms of countries to go to, and Malaysia is falling behind in terms of attractiveness as a work destination. This is due to not only because of the maid abuse cases, but also poor work conditions due to lack of law enforcement to protect these domestic helpers.

On Monday, Singapore’s Manpower Ministry signed labour reforms that will guarantee foreign-born domestic workers a day off. Under these reforms, employers will have to offer maids a day off, or pay them extra to work seven days a week, effective for contracts signed after January 2013.

Singapore, once a coveted destination for Indonesian maids, is stepping up its labour reforms in response to more Indonesian maids prefering to work in Hong Kong and Taiwan due to better work conditions there.

One would have imagined Malaysia, which is also heavily dependent on the Indonesian workforce to have been an even more attractive work destination, due to the shorter distance between the two countries, similar language spoken and culture.

However, at the end of the day, countries with good work conditions prevail in attracting good workforce. In its 2011 report, Human Rights Watch said domestic workers in Malaysia are still excluded from key protections under Malaysia’s Employment Act, including limits on working hours, public holidays, mandatory day offs, annual and sick leave, maternity protection and fair termination of contracts.

While not all employers in Malaysia are bad, it is common to hear of maids being “borrowed” from one employer to another without any compensation to the domestic worker, or have their salaries witheld sometimes not only for months, but also years. Such incidences do not fall under the strict intepretation of ‘abuse’, leaving domestic workers here vulnerable to their employers.

Malaysia is also getting ‘de-merit’ from other countries that supply domestic workers for its track record of maid abuses. Note that Cambodia has banned its citizens from becoming domestic helpers in Malaysia in October 2011, following reports of maid abuse and assaults received.

As Southeast Asian countries- the likes of Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Philippines- become more prosperous due to economic growths that in turn, generate new work opportunities, there will be fewer domestic workers being sent overseas. But, the demand for domestic workforce is not likely to decrease.

By 2017, Indonesia, which currently sends about 650,000 maids overseas annually, said it intends to stop sending domestic maids overseas.

Whether that would come to fruition or not, Malaysia has to address that if it does not reform its labour laws, it will face an employment dilemma whereby both locals and foreigners do not want to work in this country.