Envoy: First group of Indonesian domestic workers to arrive on May 31

 

The first batch of the long-awaited new recruits of Indonesian domestic workers is expected to arrive on May 31, the country’s top envoy to Malaysia said.

However, Hermono (above) was not yet able to confirm the exact number of workers who will arrive on that day as the employer-employee matching was still being carried out.

The entry of these workers Indonesian workers, Hermono said, would prove the successful functioning of Malaysia’s unique online link-up with Indonesia called the One Channel System.

Meanwhile, industry sources have confirmed that the first batch of workers, as part of the Labour Department’s pilot project, involved a quota of 100 workers.

Industry sources have also revealed that Indonesia’s Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah may be in attendance for the arrival of this first batch in Malaysia.

The women will be the first batch of workers whose employment rights and responsibilities will fall under the ambit of the Malaysia-Indonesia Memorandum of Understanding on the Recruitment and Protection of Indonesian Domestic Workers that was signed on April 1.

In January this year and before the bilateral agreement was signed, Human Resources Minister M Saravanan had announced a different pilot project involving the recruitment of an estimated 10,000 domestic workers by the following month.

However, that pilot project fell through, owing to the delay in inking the domestic worker agreement.

HR Minister M Saravanan meets with his Indonesian counterpart Ida Fauziyah for the MOU on the protection of domestic workers in Malaysia in Jakarta on Dec 7, 2021

Hermono said as early as last month, government-registered employment agencies in Malaysia had been invited to register with the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur for approval as required by the new bilateral agreement.

He said each local employment agency will have access to 10 approved Indonesian recruitment companies.

“They must register with us in our portal for approval before they can engage with the recruitment agencies in Indonesia.

“The embassy will vet all Malaysian agencies and employers for blacklist records and complaints against them while the Indonesian government will vet all recruitment agencies and workers in Indonesia.

“We have already received more than 100 recruitment agencies registering with us,” Hermono added.

Agencies will abide by the proximity of location when choosing to register through the embassy in Kuala Lumpur and any of Indonesia’s five consulate-generals in the country that are in Kota Kinabalu, Tawau, Kuching, Penang and Johor.

‘B’ licence application

Hermono also clarified that “B” licence holders from the northern states of Penang, Kedah, Perlis and Perak who had been rejected by the Indonesian Consulate-General in Penang can resubmit their applications for approval.

He explained that the applications were rejected owing to a complication at the consulate.

Hermono (right) during a visit to Indonesian domestic workers in Malaysia

According to the Private Employment Agency Act 1981, only “B” and “C” licence holders are eligible to carry out the recruitment of migrant workers, with the former type of licensee being limited to recruiting migrant domestic workers.

Agent TC Teh, who has been doing this business for the past 18 years in Penang, said his and six other agencies from Penang and Kedah had been rejected last month, on the account that theirs were “B” licences.

He said they would be applying for a quota of at least 1,000 domestic workers as they were in high demand.

Teh also lauded the One Channel System as it shared responsibility for the welfare of workers between the agents in Malaysia and Indonesia. - Mkini