Indonesia’s government looks to end the practice of domestic helpers employed overseas in an attempt to preserve the country's pride and dignity, said Indonesian President Joko Widodo at a recent meeting of the National Congress. 
Indonesia initially targeted the conclusion of the practice for 2017, but the President is looking to accelerate the deadline after a number of severe incidents have occurred, including the recent case of torture in Hong Kong (China ).
It is estimated that 2.3 million Indonesians are working abroad, mostly in Malaysia , Singapore and other Gulf countries. Around 1.2 million are working illegally and more than half are believed to work as maids.
A ban on Indonesian maids working overseas would have major impacts on Singapore and Malaysia , who depend heavily on Indonesia for domestic help.
There are 125,000 Indonesian maids in Singapore, making up about half of the domestic worker population in the country. A round 109,000 maids from Indonesia are working in Malaysia.
VNA
