JAKARTA - The Indonesian government has agreed to the Malaysian government's request to send Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) back to the neighboring country starting next August. This is because Malaysia has committed to using the recruitment system that Indonesia wants.
Today, Indonesia and Malaysia signed a joint statement regarding the implementation of the signing of a memorandum of understanding (Mou) on the placement and protection of PMIs in Malaysia. The signing was carried out by the Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah and the Malaysian Minister of Human Resources Dato Sri M. Saravanan Murugan.
"Both parties also agreed to re-start recruitment and placement of PMIs in Malaysia starting August 1, 2022, depending on whether or not the implementation of the commitments made in this MoU is effective," said Ida, in Jakarta, Thursday, July 28.
Ida also said that Malaysia finally agreed to use the one channel system (OCS) requested by Indonesia in relation to the placement of PMI there. Ida said, this system is managed by Indonesian representatives in Malaysia and the online system is managed by the Malaysian Immigration Department.
Furthermore, said Ida, this was done by complying with the agreed terms and conditions as stipulated in the MoU signed on April 1, 2022.
"Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed and reaffirmed that OCS will be the only PMI recruitment and placement mechanism by integrating the existing online system," he said.
During the meeting, Ida said that Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to combat human trafficking and were committed to involving stakeholders in their respective countries in order to establish more concrete bilateral cooperation.
"Both parties are also committed to facilitating cooperation between social security institutions in Malaysia and Indonesia in order to strengthen protection for Indonesian migrant workers," he said.
For your information, Indonesia had temporarily suspended the placement of Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) in the domestic sector in Malaysia. This is because the neighboring country did not implement a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to implement the one-channel OCS system.
Ida explained that the Government of Indonesia and the Government of Malaysia had signed an MoU on the Placement and Protection of Domestic Sector PMI 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 PMIs working in Malaysia and is the only official mechanism for recruiting and placing domestic sector PMIs 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 in accordance with 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 in accordance with 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," he said.
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