KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesia has threatened to stop sending any workers, including those for the plantation and construction sectors, if Malaysia does not meet its demands to protect maids from the country.

       “If we can’t agree on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for our domestic workers, we will we not send our workers to the other sectors too,” said Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Hermono.

       He said Jakarta’s top demand was for Malaysia to end the direct hiring of domestic workers from his country.

       “Direct hiring is not recognised in Indonesia. As far as we are concerned, it is illegal. Under this practice, a lot of our domestic workers end up being abused.

       “We want it to be done on a government-to-government basis. Presently, there are several channels,” he said, adding that any new MOU must address this issue.

       Hermono had previously said Indonesia would not resume sending domestic workers if new terms on the lapsed MOU on the recruitment of its domestic workers are not agreed upon.

       The Immigration Department’s Online Maid System, introduced in 2018, allows employers to submit applications online to hire domestic workers after directly obtaining their biodata from the source countries.

       Under this system, maids are hired without having to go through private employment agencies.

       Instead, domestic workers arrive here as tourists and later apply to work as maids.

       Hermono reiterated that Indonesia, which maintains its largest migrant workforce in Malaysia, wants a single channel system to bring in its domestic workers here, “without third party interference”.

       He said Malaysia had introduced unilateral changes by permitting direct hiring through the Immigration Department’s online application system.

       “Under this system, there is no employment contract. There are villagers being tapped to work as maids here by some Indonesian agencies, which send them over without any training,” he pointed out.

       Indonesia has been pressing for a new MOU to replace the one between both countries which expired in 2016.

       Malaysia and Indonesia first signed an MOU on the Recruitment and Placement of Indonesian Domestic Workers in 2006, which was amended in 2011 to last until 2016.

       The agreement, among others, affirmed the right of the workers to hold their passports, communicate with their families, be provided with a weekly rest day, and for their monthly wages to be paid into a bank account.

       A standard employment contract was also provided, outlining the responsibilities of the employer, worker and recruitment agency.

       Malaysia is heavily dependent on Indonesian labour, from domestic helpers to construction workers. Some 2.7 million Indonesian workers are here, but only 704,000 are said to be documented.

       On talks of the new MOU, Hermono said another round of discussions was held on Wednesday. He figured that only about 60% of the draft was completed.

       Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan has said that he will travel to Jakarta on Monday to meet Indonesian Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah to finalise details of the MOU, with the signing targeted for the first week of February in Bali.

       Saravanan had said his trip followed a Cabinet decision on Jan 12 for all issues related to the signing of the MOU to be resolved.