RI, Malaysia to sign MOU to protect migrant workers
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia and Malaysia are narrowing the gap between them regarding the signing a long-waited Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on migrant workers that will ban Malaysian agencies from directly recruiting Indonesian workers here.
Khamdi Khuzaini Bin Tukiman, immigration and manpower attache at the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta, said that under the planned MOU, the two governments would set a quota of Indonesian workers to be sent to Malaysia.
"It's basically a quota ... the two governments will then appoint labor agencies in their respective countries to meet this quota," he told reporters during a farewell party for the Malaysian ambassador to Indonesia, Dato Rastam Mohammad Isa, who is to take up a new posting as Malaysian ambassador to the United Nations.
He said the planned MOU also required the accreditation of workers' medical records, but it was not clear yet whether it was the Indonesian or Malaysian governments that would provide accreditation.
According to Khamdi, there was no major barrier to the Malaysian government accepting Indonesia's proposals, but his government needed to synchronize these with planned agreements with other countries.
The MOU could be signed within the next two months, he said.
He expected the new quota system would minimize the number of Indonesian workers coming illegally to Malaysia. He failed to elaborate further, however.
In August last year, Indonesia and Malaysia failed to agree on a MOU on migrant workers when Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad met with Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri in Bali.
The MOU was expected to be signed to resolve the problems facing illegal Indonesian workers in Malaysia following that country's decision to take action against illegal foreign workers and impose severe punishments on violators.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of undocumented Indonesian workers in Malaysia have had to return home.
Malaysia has become an attractive country for foreign workers particularly from Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and India, due to plentiful employment opportunities and higher salaries.
Malaysian manpower agencies, in cooperation with both licensed and unlicensed local agencies, can directly seek out Indonesian workers as they are required.
But hundreds of thousands of Indonesians prefer to work in Malaysia illegally due to high costs imposed on them by agencies at home if they apply to go to Malaysia as legal workers, thus reducing their income.
The illegal workers, however, are prone to abuse by their employers in Malaysia because of a lack of legal protection.
Khamdi said further discussions on workers' transportation would be held.
The Malaysian side expects the Indonesian agencies to shoulder the cost of transporting migrant workers from the Indonesian ports of departure to Malaysia, but the Indonesian side is demanding the reverse.