JAKARTA: Indonesia has lifted restrictions on the entry of its workers into Malaysia and agreed to integrate the existing system between the Malaysian Immigration Department and the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur for the recruitment of Indonesian domestic workers.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said the integration of this system would act as a single channel for the recruitment and entry of domestic workers into Malaysia as agreed in the recent memorandum of understanding (MoU).
"This system will be operational in three more weeks under the supervision of the Malaysia-Indonesia Joint Working Group," he said in a statement with his Indonesian counterpart Ida Fauziyah.
He said a pilot project would be implemented for a period of three months once the system's integration was completed to ensure the smooth execution of the single-channel system.
"Therefore, the Indonesian side has agreed to withdraw the restrictions on the entry of domestic workers and Indonesian labourers (TKI) into Malaysia starting Aug 1," said Saravanan.
Saravanan believes that the resolution of the issues in the MoU of domestic workers would lead to the smooth entry of Indonesian workers into Malaysia.
Therefore, he reminded employers whose foreign worker quotas had been approved by the Human Resources Ministry to immediately pay the levy to the Immigration Department.
Employers who wish to employ Indonesian workers could recruit them from Monday next week, he said.
On July 13, Indonesia announced the decision to temporarily freeze the entry of all the country's workers into Malaysia for not using the single system as previously agreed. Saravanan was in Jakarta in conjunction with the meeting of the Joint Working Group between Malaysia and Indonesia as outlined in the MoU regarding domestic workers, which was completed on July 27.
Policy and technical issues in the implementation of the MoU signed on April 1 were discussed in the meeting.
Earlier, Ida said a mutual agreement on the necessary steps was important to ensure the full implementation of the MoU, especially on the One-Channel System (OCS).
Previously, the Joint Working Group had discovered several policy and technical implementation issues that could affect the implementation of the MoU.
"We agree to take all the necessary steps to ensure that the terms in the MoU are fully complied with by all parties by involving the respective governments' relevant agencies or institutions," said Ida.
She added that the effectiveness of the MoU's implementation was also important before Indonesia sends its domestic workers to Malaysia next month. – Bernama