New Malaysia-Indonesia Domestic Worker MoU At Final Stage

By Nik Nurfaqih Nik Wil

JAKARTA, Oct 7 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and Indonesia are at the final stage of negotiations to finalise a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) on domestic workers and caregivers, which will replace the existing agreement set to expire in April 2027.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri R Ramanan said Malaysia had completed an initial draft of the MoU and submitted it to the Indonesian side for review and further discussions.

“We have completed the zero draft agreement and sent it to my counterpart.

“We are now at the final stage of preparing a document to be signed at a later date,” he told Bernama when met at the Salam Dari Malaysia programme in Jakarta on Tuesday night.

Ramanan said he met Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Minister Mukhtarudin on Tuesday, with both sides holding detailed discussions on issues concerning domestic workers and caregivers.

In the discussions, he said some matters had been agreed upon, while others remained unresolved, with both sides close to reaching agreement on certain issues and unable to agree on others.

“But I can assure you that the meeting went well. We were very much on the same page, and both sides looked at the issue from the perspectives of both employers and workers,” he said.

Asked whether Indonesia had made any specific requests under the new MoU, including the possibility of increasing the worker quota, Ramanan said Malaysia no longer used a quota system for the recruitment of foreign workers.

“The request was indeed made by my counterpart, the Minister, and I explained to him that the quota system no longer exists,” he said.

He said job vacancies would be advertised through the MYFutureJobs portal, with priority given to Malaysians.

“If there are no takers, if no one takes up the job opportunity, we will open it to foreign workers and they can fill the vacancies,” he said.

-- BERNAMA