TEMPO.CO, Kuala Lumpur – The Malaysian and Indonesian governments have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreement on Indonesian workers in Malaysia. The MoU sets the wages to be paid by every Malaysian citizen who employs Indonesian workers as maids.

Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Ismail Abd Muttalib said Malaysia and Indonesia had signed an MoU on the matter, in which the minimum wage had been pegged at RM7,800 or Rp27.6 million for each maid.

"The cost is reasonable by taking into account the cost set by other receiving countries, like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Middle East countries," he told a question-and-answer session after the MoU signing.

Ismail said there were currently two mechanisms used for the employment of foreign maids in the country: through the MoU signing and outside of the MoU mechanism.

"Presently, the recruitment through the MoU is only with Indonesia, where employers are not allowed to employ domestic maids directly," he said.

As for other countries bereft of an MoU with Malaysia, Ismail said, the process would be done through their embassies in Malaysia based on existing immigration regulations.

Ismail said maid agencies in Indonesia were more intrigued to send their maids to countries other than Malaysia due to the cost factor. "The factor of uncompetitive salary is also a reason not many trained maids from Indonesia want to work in Malaysia.”

BERNAMA|YON DEMA