VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian government decided to temporarily stop sending migrant workers to Malaysia as of July 13, 2022, over Kuala Lumpur violating a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on manpower inked between the two countries.



The government made the decision after the Indonesian mission found several pieces of evidence showing Malaysia is still using a maid online system (SMO) to recruit workers, director of Indonesian citizens and entities’ protection at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Judha Nugraha, said during an online media briefing on Thursday.



SMO is a recruitment system made outside the agreement in the MoU.




"Specifically, this SMO makes our migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation because the recruitment mechanism is not based on Law No. 18/2017 on the protection of migrant workers... Consequently, our migrant workers sent to Malaysia did not pass through the legal phases," he said.



In response to the finding, the Indonesian government has decided to temporarily stop sending migrant workers to Malaysia until Kuala Lumpur clarifies the issue and commits to ending the recruitment of migrant workers as domestic help through the SMO.



The Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has conveyed the decision to the Malaysian Resources Ministry, which will soon discuss the issue with the Malaysian Home Affairs Ministry.



“We hope the discussion will bring positive results," he said.



The two countries signed the MoU when Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob visited Jakarta on April 1, 2022.



It deals with the use of a single-channel system for recruiting, supervising, and protecting Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia. (Antaranews)