The long-awaited signing of the Malaysia-Indonesia memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the employment and protection of domestic workers has been postponed for the second consecutive time.
Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Hermono (above) said the signing that was expected to take place on March 18 and witnessed by both country’s top leaders had been postponed this time due to their respective unavailability.
“Both countries were in agreement to sign the MOU but Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and President Joko Widodo were unable to attend the March 18 signing,” he added.
Hermono, who goes by a single name, said the countries were looking to fix a new date in early April.
On Jan 24, Human Resources Minister M Saravanan announced after meeting his counterpart from Indonesia, Ida Fauziyah, that the MOU would be signed in Bali on Feb 7 and 8.
However, this did not take place as negotiations had not concluded.
In his response to MPs in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, Saravanan disclosed that he would answer the remaining questions on the matter in writing when he returned from Jakarta.
Minimum wage, placement cost capping
Yesterday, Malaysiakini revealed a draft process flow for the recruitment and placement of Indonesian domestic workers through the My One Channel System (MyOCS) which showed that two portals would be used to manage the recruitment process.
A sighted draft flow chart indicated that Malaysian Private Recruitment Agencies (APS) would have to manoeuvre through two separate online migrant management portals – MyOCS and FWCMS - to recruit Indonesian domestic workers.
It was also revealed by a source that the agencies were concerned that payments in full needed to be made even before the biodata of workers were viewed and agreed to.
This payment structure in the recruitment process flow was said to be implemented through the 3s Malaysia portal.
While unable to comment on the payment structure, Hermono said the MOU would place a cap on the maximum fee chargeable at RM15,000. He explained that the fees could be lower depending on negotiations between the agencies from both countries.
Hermono added that the wages of domestic workers would be no less than RM1,500 but could be higher depending on the workload and for example, the size of the house.
Malaysia and Indonesia signed their first MOU on domestic worker recruitment on May 13, 2006, followed by an amendment of the MOU on May 31, 2011, which expired on May 30, 2016. - Mkini
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