He said in the past, the government had considered allowing domestic helpers to be brought in from China but the Chinese community had objected, Nanyang Siang Pau reported yesterday.

"We had intended to open the market to allow Chinese employers to hire Chinese nationals as maids but faced objections from certain people in the community," he told the daily.

Mahmood said the ministry can make decisions on the issue of China maids based on the request of the Chinese community.

"If the Chinese community does not object, we can reconsider allowing domestic helpers to be brought in from China."

A proposal by Malaysian Association of Foreign Maids Agencies president Datuk Raja Zulkepley Dahalan to bring in China maids two
years ago was shot down when then Wanita MCA chief Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen led a chorus of objections, worrying that the move would lead to families breaking up.

Raja Zulkepley had said China maids' salaries should not be very much higher than that of Indonesian maids. The minimum could be fixed at RM1,000 a month, he said.

"We will also make sure that those brought in are not too young, possibly above 30, and not too pretty. They will be professional maids
of good calibre," he said.

Meanwhile, Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Liu Jian welcomes any move by Malaysia to consider bringing in maids from China.

Blog poll result not representative of MCA stand

MCA secretary-general Datuk Wong Foon Meng says the result of the opinion poll posted on party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat's blog does not represent MCA's stand, and the party will not pull out of the Barisan Nasional (BN), Nanyang Siang Pau reported yesterday.

He said he did not know the intention of the poll but "what is clear and definite is that MCA will remain in BN".

Wong said MCA has no special agenda to quit BN, especially during these trying times. Instead it will continue to coordinate with BN to implement reforms, he said.

He said the opinion poll, in which 75% or 1,905 of the 2,517 respondents answered "yes" to the question whether the party should pull out of the BN, did not represent MCA's stand nor could it reflect the stand of the public.

"They (the respondents) are probably people who have all along wanted MCA to leave BN, and expressed their opinion through the blog."

The opinion poll was removed from Ong's blog on Friday, a day after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said it was done for academic purposes only and that MCA would remain a senior member of the coalition.