Indonesia PMI Moratorium, Malaysian Home Affairs Minister To Discuss Manpower MoU With RI

JAKARTA - Malaysian Home Affairs Minister Hamzah Zainudin in a press statement in Kuala Lumpur, Monday, said the Ministry of Human Resources and the Malaysian Immigration Department would still hold talks with Indonesia regarding the issue of the labor memorandum of understanding (MoU).

The move, said Hamzah, had been agreed at a Joint Committee Meeting of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Human Resources to discuss the management of foreign workers in Malaysia with the Malaysian Minister of Human Resources M Saravanan.

The discussion on the management of Indonesian foreign workers, according to him, started on Monday and there are several issues that need to be observed.

He said the government will always ensure that the management of foreign workers in Malaysia is always based on the rule of law and at the same time ensures that all are protected fairly.

The Indonesian government on July 13 issued a policy to temporarily stop sending Indonesian migrant workers for all sectors to Malaysia.

This policy was taken because it is still found the use of the online maid system (SMO) recruitment method in Malaysia to employ domestic workers from Indonesia.

Meanwhile, in the MoU signed by the Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah and the Minister of Human Resources of Malaysia M Saravanan on April 1, 2022, it was agreed to place PMI in the domestic sector in Malaysia through the One Channel System (OCS) as the only legal channel.

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has also asked the Ministry of Human Resources and Ministry of Home Affairs to resolve the matter as soon as possible.