Skilled foreign domestic workers looking for jobs shun Malaysia because they fear being abused and are put off by low salaries.

Foreign maids also disliked working for Malaysians because they were often given chores unrelated to housework, the Home Ministry's parliamentary secretary Abdul Rahman Ibrahim said, according to the state Bernama news agency.

"Besides unsuitable working conditions, media reports about foreign maid abuses also has a strong impact, which causes foreigners to fear coming to Malaysia," Abdul Rahman said in parliament.

He said the government had taken steps to address the issue by creating a hotline for complaints at its immigration headquarters, but admitted that so far it had been used mainly by employers to air gripes about maids.

More than 4,000 errant employers have been blacklisted since January 2006, while the licences of 19 labour agencies have been revoked by the government, he added.

Pay on time

Abdul Rahman said if Malaysian employers wanted better quality maids, then they should be prepared to offer higher wages, on a par with other countries, and pay their maids on time.

Malaysia depends heavily on foreign maids but they have little protection under labour laws. They often live with their employers and work long hours under tough conditions to earn around 130 dollars a month.

An Indonesian maid, Ceriyati Dapin, 33, recently made headlines after she lowered herself from a 15th storey apartment to escape from her employer, who had allegedly beaten her and threatened her life.

Malaysian police arrested her boss, a 35-year-old woman who faces charges of wrongful confinement and causing injury with a dangerous weapon.

The Indonesian embassy in Malaysia has said more than 1,000 abused or unpaid Indonesian workers seek refuge there every year. Most of them worked as maids.