JAKARTA: Jakarta has formally made Kuala Lumpur hear its grievance over an advert for a robot vacuum cleaner which advises consumers to “Fire your Indonesian maid now”.
The original advert for RoboVac – showing a white man relaxing in a chair with the vacuum cleaner nearby – has been taken down online, but had been widely shared on social media, generating complaints from Indonesians.
A company, through its advertising, featured a phrase imploring consumers to sack their Indonesian maids as it claimed their functions could be replaced by home-cleaning robots instead.
Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia Herman Prayitno slammed the advertisement, calling it insensitive and demeaning to Indonesians, and asked Malaysian authorities to ban the advertisement and said Indonesia is considering legal action against the company.
Prayitno said the advert was “very disturbing to the feeling of the people and nation”.
The treatment of Indonesian domestic staff in Malaysia has been a sensitive issue between the two Asian countries.
There have been several reports of abuse of Indonesian staff in Malaysia, prompting Indonesia to ban its citizens from taking such jobs altogether in June 2009.
The ban was revoked after the countries reached a deal to improve working conditions, including one guaranteed day off each week and stopping employers from holding employees passports.
This race row comes as Indonesias President Joko Widodo is due to begin a visit to Malaysia.
The issue is expected to come up in talks between President Widodo and Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak on Friday. –
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