INDONESIA EMPHASISES MANAGEMENT MECHANISM IN MoU ON MIGRANT WORKERS

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya

JAKARTA, Jan 8 (Bernama) -- Indonesia is giving importance to a management
mechanism in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) it is working out with
Malaysia on the matter of its migrant workers, Indonesian Foreign Minister Dr
Marty Natalegawa said here Friday.

"We are now working with the Malaysian government towards an MoU that
relates to the responsibilities and rights of Indonesian workers," he said,
adding that the mindset from the Indonesian perspective was very much in terms
of a mutually beneficial type of engagement.

"We need to have a paradigm shift, that is more win-win and less
confrontational, and I think we are working on that. Hopefully, we will have
this MoU agreed on sooner rather than later.

"It is of mutual interest to have a proper mechanism so that whatever
moratorium that we have been having can be lifted as soon as we have the
mechanism in place," he told reporters after delivering his annual press
briefing at his ministry, here.

Indonesia stopped sending its workers to Malaysia, particularly those to be
employed in the informal sector, in June last year, following several incidents
of maltreatment of Indonesian domestic maids in Malaysia.

Marty said officials from both countries were discussing matters related to
workers' minimum pay and leave, their right to carry identification papers and
the responsibility of the host country to inform the Indonesian embassy should
an Indonesian national face any difficulty.

The minister said Indonesian workers made a significant contribution to
Malaysia's economy and development and, at the same time, Malaysia had become a
source of income for them.

Earlier, in his briefing, Marty said that in 2010, Indonesia would continue
to invest heavily in its multilateral diplomacy and would be at the forefront in
promoting the role of the United Nations in tackling global crises and at the
same time in calling for its reform.

"Our foreign policy will consistently project Indonesia as part of the
solution to various global challenges, of a country keen to accentuate the
overlapping of interests and concerns rather than competing interests and
concerns," he said.

It would also, among other things, continue to consistently support the
Palestinian cause and the peace process aimed at realising an independent
Palestinian state.

On the evolution towards an Asean Community, Marty said Indonesia believed
that there could not be an East Asian or an Asia Pacific community without an
Asean Community as its core constituent.

"Thus the Asean Community, the various Asean plus processes, the ARF (Asean
Regional Forum), Apec (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) and East Asia Summit
community, with Asean playing the central role. This is a vision that will
continue to guide us in 2010," he said.

He also said that in keeping with the tagline "One Thousand Friends, Zero
Enemies", Indonesia's foreign policy would actively seek to raise to a higher
level existing ties with countries in all corners of the globe, promote positive
political and people-to-people relations as well as renew and focus on efforts
to promote economic diplomacy.
-- BERNAMA