RI PMI Moratorium, Malaysian PM Orders To Resolve MoU Issues For Indonesian Migrant Workers: I Don't Want This To Go On

Prime Minister of Malaysia Ismail Sabri Yaakob. ANTARA/HO-PMO/aa. (PMO Handout)

JAKARTA - Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob instructed the Ministry of Human Resources (KSM) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (KDN) to immediately resolve the issue of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the recruitment of Indonesian workers signed between the two countries.

Ismail Sabri said it must be resolved immediately to avoid problems between Malaysia and Indonesia.

"I don't want this (problem) to drag on. I have told them to solve it quickly because I am afraid that if we don't do it, we will have problems with Indonesia," he said, quoted by ANTARA from Bernama in Kuala Lumpur, Friday, July 15.

When asked further, he denied that the MoU would be cancelled.

Previously, the Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Hermono confirmed that the government had temporarily suspended fulfilling new job orders for Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) of all sectors to Malaysia when ANTARA confirmed on Wednesday (13/7).

The Indonesian Ambassador emphasized that the policy to stop sending PMI was valid until there was a commitment from Malaysia to stop recruiting Indonesian domestic workers through the online maid system (SMO).

Meanwhile, the Minister of Manpower (Menaker) Ida Fauziyah said that the temporary suspension of PMI placement to Malaysia because the memorandum of agreement to implement the one channel system (OCS) signed on April 1 2022 was not followed.

Ida said the Indonesian representative in Malaysia found evidence that there was still a system implementation outside the one that had been mutually agreed upon by the two countries, namely the SMO managed by the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs through the Malaysian Immigration Office.

The decision to temporarily suspend PMI's placement to Malaysia has been officially conveyed by the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to the Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources.

The Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources has stated that it will hold discussions regarding this matter with the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs. Ida said he was optimistic that the results of the discussions between the two ministries would run productively and give positive results, so that the MoU would be implemented properly.