MALAYSIA TO PROPOSE BETTER PROTECTION FOR EMPLOYERS IN MoU

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya

JAKARTA, Aug 23 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is proposing better protection provisions
for Malaysian employers in the new memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the
recruitment and placement of Indonesian maids.

They include the extension of the guarantee period to six months from the
three-month period provided in the 2006 MoU and reimbursement of advance payment
should the maid abscond or is found medically unfit for employment.

The proposals will be discussed when the Malaysia-Indonesia Joint Working Group
on the recruitment of Indonesian domestic workers
meet here Monday to finalise the new MoU.

Home Affairs Ministry Senior Deputy Secretary-General Raja Azahar Raja Abdul
Manap told Bernama here Sunday that provisions on the protection for Malaysian
employers were not clearly spelled out in the previous MoU, leaving many
employers in a dilemma when the maids left them after working for a few months.

Raja Azahar is leading an 11-member delegation from Malaysia for the Joint
Working Group meeting Monday, the sixth meeting since both countries decided to
amend the 2006 MoU on the Recruitment and Placement of Indonesian Domestic
Workers.

Malaysia and Indonesia signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for the new MoU on May
18 during the annual consultation between Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Kuala Lumpur.

The LOI was signed by Home Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and Indonesian
Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Muhaimin Iskandar.

In the LOI, it was agreed that Indonesian maids be given a day rest every week,
be paid a monthly wage based on market forces and be allowed to hold their
passports.

It also provides for the cost structure on the recruitment of maids to be
attached as an annex to the new MoU.

Raja Azahar said Monday's meeting would detail up what had been agreed by both
sides earlier as well as on the mechanism on the implementation of the
agreement.

Indonesia imposed a moratorium on sending its maids to Malaysia in June last
year following Jakarta’s unhappiness with a number of issues affecting its
citizens.
-- BERNAMA




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