RI and Malaysia to revise MoU on migrant workers

RI and Malaysia to revise MoU on migrant workers

Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Although the Malaysian government has agreed to continue
accepting Indonesian workers, future recruitment should be based
on a government-to-government basis and not rely solely on
recruiting agents, said a senior official on Wednesday.

Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Hadi Wayarabi Alhadar told
reporters, after a meeting with Vice President Hamzah Haz on
Wednesday, that the terms would be included in a revised
memorandum of understanding (MOU), which was first signed by the
two governments in 1996.

In the new MOU, the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration,
along with the Indonesian embassy, will closely watch the
recruiting and placement process of Indonesian migrant workers.

Currently, the recruitment and placement of workers is
conducted by private agents.

A ministerial level joint committee between the two countries
will be held on Feb. 18 in Malaysia, and will discuss the revised
MOU.

Hadi said the Malaysian government would only employ
Indonesian workers as domestic helpers or for work on
plantations.

The ambassador told the Vice President in the meeting that
there had been no more rioting involving Indonesian workers and
that order had been restored.

"The perpetrators have been brought to court, we are observing
them closely," Hadi said.

Four Indonesian workers were sentenced to 30 months for
inciting a violent protest over drug tests at Nilai industrial
estate in the state of Negeri Sembilan on Jan. 17. Each of those
who participated in the riot had their initial jail sentences
reduced by 10 months to six months imprisonment.

More violence involving Indonesian workers took place at
Cyberjaya, a hi-tech suburb south of Kuala Lumpur, just three
days after the Nilai incident.

There are currently 568,000 legal Indonesian workers in
Malaysia, Hadi said, 360,000 of them are employed as domestic
helpers and plantation workers.

Hadi denied reports that many more Indonesian workers were
about to be deported, saying their employers might extend their
contracts.

In response to Malaysia's labor policy, chairman of the
Association of Labor Export Companies (Apjati) Abdulla Umar said
that Indonesian workers could do more than just be recruited as
domestic helpers.

"The Malaysian government seems to ignore the skills of
Indonesian workers in many other fields," Abdulla said, as quoted
by Antara.