Minister Of Manpower Ida Fauziyah Reveals The Real Reason Indonesia Stops Sending Migrant Workers To Malaysia

JAKARTA - The Minister of Manpower, Ida Fauziyah, revealed the reason for Indonesia to temporarily stop the placement of Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) in the domestic sector in Malaysia.

Ida said this was because the neighboring country violated a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to implement a one-channel system.

Ida explained that the Governments of Indonesia and Malaysia had signed an MoU on the Placement and Protection of Domestic Sector Workers in Malaysia on April 1, 2022.

The signing of the MoU was also witnessed by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, and the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato' Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

According to Ida, the MoU is a form of good faith between the two countries to protect domestic sector workers working in Malaysia and is the only official mechanism for recruiting and placing domestic workers in Malaysia.

However, said Ida, the Indonesian representative in Malaysia found evidence that Malaysia was still implementing a system outside the system that had been mutually agreed upon by the two countries, namely the online maid system (SMO) managed by the Ministry of Home Affairs of Malaysia through the Malaysian Immigration Department.

"This is certainly not by the agreement and commitment of the two countries, because the placement should use a one-channel system", said Ida, quoted on Friday, July 15.

Furthermore, Ida said, the use of the SMO made PMI's position vulnerable to exploitation, because it was not by Law Number 18 of 2017 concerning the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers, and did not go through the correct departure stage.

"Regarding this, the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur recommends the Central Government to temporarily suspend PMI placement in Malaysia, until there is clarification from the Malaysian Government, including a commitment to close the SMO mechanism as a PMI placement route", she said.

Ida explained that the decision to terminate the domestic sector workers in Malaysia has been officially submitted by the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to the Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources.

Based on the results of the monitoring of the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Ida continued, the Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources issued a media statement on July 13, in which the Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources will soon hold discussions with the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs, to discuss the issue.

Therefore, Ida said he was optimistic that the results of the discussions between the two ministries would be productive and yield positive results.

So that the agreement as stated in the MoU can be implemented properly.

"We expect positive results from the discussions between the Ministry of Human Resources and the Ministry of Home Affairs of Malaysia so that what has been agreed between the Government of Indonesia and the Government of Malaysia can proceed as it should", she said.