Indonesia Suspends Sending Indonesian Migrant Workers to Malaysia

Jakarta, MINA – Indonesia has temporarily suspended the sending of workers to Malaysia because the country is considered not to have implemented a memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding migrant workers signed in April 2022.

“As we all know, on April 1, Indonesia and Malaysia signed an MoU on the placement and protection of migrant workers in the domestic sector in Malaysia,” said Judha Nugraha, Director of Protection for Indonesian Citizens and Indonesian Legal Entities at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday.

Judha explained in the MoU, especially in Article 3 and also in Appendix C, the MoU contains an agreement between the two countries that the placement of Indonesian citizens in the domestic sector from Indonesia to Malaysia is through a one channel system, one channel and this system is the only legal mechanism to recruit and place migrant workers in the domestic sector in Malaysia.

Judha said the cooperation between the two countries was made for a good cause. However, Malaysia is said to still use the old system to recruit Indonesian workers.

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“Of course the MoU agreement was made in good faith from both countries.  However, our representatives in Malaysia found some evidence that Malaysia is still implementing the so-called online maid system,” he said.

Judha said the online maid system, which is still being implemented by Malaysia, was under the agreement between the two countries.  He added that the online maid system (SMO) is also vulnerable to the exploitation of migrant workers.

For this reason, the government temporarily stopped sending Indonesian workers to Malaysia. Judha said the Indonesian Embassy had sent letters to the Malaysian Ministry of Manpower and the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs to follow up on this.

After conveying the temporary suspension, the Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources stated that it would discuss the issue with the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs.

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The SMO mechanism is said to be under the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs.

“We hope that there will be positive results from the discussions between the Ministry of Human Resources and the Ministry of Home Affairs of Malaysia,” said Judha.  (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)

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