The government's new online direct hiring system for foreign domestic helpers is not expected to involve a "large number" of recruits, said Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed.

Nur Jazlan said this was due to existing restrictions imposed by Indonesia and the Philippines - representing Malaysia's two largest source countries - against the direct hiring of their citizens to work as domestic helpers here.

"In my opinion, with this direct hiring route, the numbers won’t be very big because people (Malaysian employers) would still be rational about the hiring of the maids.

"Unless you (employers) want to take the risk (of directly hiring potential domestic helpers)," he told Malaysiakini when contacted today.

He pointed out that the risks include hiring a domestic helper who is not well trained or physically unfit to work, a responsibility which was previously undertaken by recruitment agents in the source countries.

"The government is just responding to the people’s request and demands for an option to cut recruitment costs.

"But these are the risks they would have to face," he said.

Aside from recruitment agents in source countries, Nur Jazlan said agents here in Malaysia would also be responsible to replace runaway domestic helpers.

When asked for comments on Immigration director-general Mustafar Ali (photo) statement that the department's focus was on registering Indonesian and Filipino citizens who are already here on the Social Visit Pass, Nur Jazlan pointed out that their numbers would be similarly limited.

"The source (Indonesians and Filipinos) here will dry up soon, right? In a short time.

"After that, there will be no more of them here. We (employers) still have to find them over there (Indonesia and Philippines),” he said.

"My point is, the way we (employers) source it is (also) through recommendations of their previous helpers or other personal contacts… it's not that they go there to 'hunt for the maids,' right? So I don’t expect the numbers to be so big," he said.

Seven other countries without hiring restrictions

As for recruits from the seven other source countries approved to work as domestic helpers here which have no restriction against direct hiring, Nur Jazlan said the number had always been significantly lower as the majority of Malaysian employers would prefer to hire from Indonesia or the Philippines.

Nur Jazlan, as such, stressed that the online direct hiring system, which was first announced by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in his Budget 2018 speech, was only intended as “another option” for employers and designed in response to complaints of exorbitant costs incurred to hire domestic helpers through private agents.

“What we have done at the Home Ministry is just to reduce the cost of processing their work permits. That’s all.

“Medical check-ups through Fomema and all that, employers still have to pay,” the Pulai MP said, adding there would also be additional costs paid to any recruitment agents in source countries and the cost of the worker’s flight ticket here.

Meanwhile, Mustafar said the Maid Online website had received a total of 25,719 visitors as of noon today.

From the figure, Mustafar said 702 potential employers had registered themselves to hire new domestic helpers.

“There were also employers who failed to complete the registration process, because they must first fulfil certain conditions to employ a domestic helper,” he said in a statement.

Mustafar also reiterated that the system was designed to assist employers who wished to directly hire their domestic helpers, while those who did not wish to do so could still engage the services of registered agencies.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (photo) had previously announced that employers could save over 90 percent of the cost by recruiting foreign housemaids online through the system, which went live yesterday.

Zahid, who is also the home minister, had said employers who could typically be made to pay up to RM18,000 would now need only pay RM1,635 to the government through the Immigration Department.

‘Ongoing discussions with Indonesia, Philippines’

Given the limited number of their citizens here, Nur Jazlan also revealed there are ongoing discussions with the governments of Indonesia and Philippines on ways to formally implement the online direct hiring system.

“That’s why we are negotiating with them. Because we don’t expect the numbers (here in Malaysia) to be big,” he said in pointing out that it would also be in the source countries’ interest to facilitate their citizens who wished to work abroad as domestic helpers.

In the case of Indonesia, Nur Jazlan said negotiations on the terms for recruitment and placement of its domestic helpers here had been ongoing since before its government signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia on May 31, 2011.

The agreement signed in Bandung between then-Human Resource Minister S Subramaniam and his counterpart Muhaimin Iskandar marked the end of a two-year moratorium imposed by Indonesia in June 2009 on allowing its citizens to work as domestic helpers here.