Indonesia’s Ambassador to Malaysia, Hermono, revealed that the minimum household income needed to qualify as potential employers of domestic workers from his country was RM7,000.
The Malaysia-Indonesia memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the Employment and Protection of Indonesian Domestic Workers in Malaysia did not disclose this figure.
Instead, the MOU entrusted that determination to Indonesia’s Mission in Malaysia.
Hermono, who goes by a single name, said if employers needed two domestic workers, their household income should be double RM7,000.
Sighting a leaked MOU document, Malaysiakini revealed on April 7 that Indonesian domestic workers’ wages were to be no less than RM1,500 and continued non-payment of wages entitled workers to terminate their contracts.
The MOU also streamlined tasks usually loaded onto a single worker under three job titles, namely housekeeper and family cook, child caregiver and elderly person caregiver.
Speaking to Malaysiakini, Hermono said one person could not be expected to do all that work with long hours without a minimum rest period and no annual holiday.
“During the negotiations, we asked for all the common abuse and forced labour elements faced by Indonesian domestic workers to be addressed in the MOU.
“And the minimum household income plays a big role in the payment of wages because if the employers don’t earn enough, they cannot afford to pay.
“This is how domestic workers come to face forced labour with unpaid wages,” he said, adding that was why the embassy chose to be the one to set the minimum bracket.
Hermono said the RM7,000 minimum household income requirement had been in effect for the past three years.
“This amount is nothing new. All applications that came through the embassy over the past three years needed to fulfil this and other criteria,” he explained.
Hermono said the doubling of the minimum income bracket for employers seeking to employ two workers was necessary “because if RM3,000 were to be taken away from the RM7,000 household income to salary two workers, they wouldn’t be left with much”.
Employers protected in one channel system
Hermono said Indonesia was currently briefing recruitment agents in its country to ensure that no third-party recruiters were used.
He said government-registered agencies in both Malaysia and Indonesia that recruit and place domestic workers were required to register within the one channel system’s (OCS) online portal.
He explained that the registration process also required agencies to sign a mandatory undertaking, or “Aku Janji”, which stipulated the maximum fee chargeable to employers.
“If agencies charged more than RM15,000 per domestic worker, the employer can call and inform the embassy and the agency will be blacklisted from the OCS.
“This will affect the sending and the receiving agencies, which would mean they will not be able to recruit and place Indonesian domestic workers anymore,” he said.
Hermono stressed that the OCS was the “one and only system through which employers would be able to employ Indonesian domestic workers.”
When asked about other channels used to recruit domestic workers into Malaysia, Hermono said the MOU stated clearly that no other type of work-related immigration pass was to be issued.
“I believe the Malaysian government will honour the MOU.
“In the meantime, we are stopping any women, at any exit point, heading to Malaysia using the MyTravelPass,” he said.
In January this year, Malaysiakini reported that Indonesian domestic workers were also being recruited through the Maid Online System under the Malaysian Immigration Department and placements were taking place even when Malaysia’s borders were closed in 2020 and 2021.
Workers were reported to have entered Malaysia using the MyTravelPass issued by the immigration department.
Hermono reasoned that employers were currently paying more than RM15,000, and he was confident that they would engage with agencies registered with the OCS.
“There are reports that employers were paying as much as RM25,000 to RM30,000 for one worker.
“It is safer for them to engage with agencies registered with this recruitment portal,” he advised.
Malaysian side recruitment portal not ready
Hermono said they are currently waiting to link up with Malaysia’s online OCS so the recruitment process can commence.
Malaysiakini had recently reported that the Human Resource Ministry’s (MOHR) portal for this purpose was located at 3sMalaysia.com last month and redirected to MyOCS.com.my this month.
However, users were still unable to register at the portal for a login.
Questions have already been raised about the ownership of the portal and the relationship between its developer and MOHR was raised in Parliament last month but it went unanswered.
However, Malaysiakini’s latest report revealed that the developer of the portal, 3S Malaysia Sdn Bhd, had claimed exclusive rights to the data in the portal via terms and conditions users have to agree to before entering a login and commencing the recruitment process.
Although the ministry has yet to announce 3S Malaysia Sdn Bhd’s role in the development of the MyOCS.com.my portal, information has surfaced that the company that was to operate the one-channel system had links to a government-registered private employment agency.
Private employment agencies are licensed to recruit and place migrant workers and this presents a conflict of interest.
So far, no announcements have been made by the MOHR as to when the portal will be ready for use. - Mkini
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