RI, Malaysia to sign MOU to protect migrant workers

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.