Malaysia, Indonesia discuss ways to improve labour cooperation

The matter was discussed by Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar and Indonesian ambassador Hermono, who paid a courtesy call on Sivakumar at the Ministry of Human Resources (KSM), here, today.

KSM said the courtesy call was to discuss bilateral labour issues that are set to be the agenda at the highest level during the official visit of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to Jakarta on Jan 8 and 9.

"It is hoped that the Prime Minister's official visit to the Republic of Indonesia in January will strengthen existing collaborations between both nations in various fields, especially the labour sector," KSM said in a statement today.

Malaysia and Indonesia have forged labour ties through two memorandums of understanding (MoU), which involved the hiring of Indonesian workers for the formal sector and the domestic helpers' sector.

The two countries inked the MoU for the formal sector on May 10, 2004, while that on the recruitment and protection of Indonesian domestic helpers was signed on April 1, 2022.

As of Nov 30, 2022, there are 376,256 Indonesian workers in Malaysia.

KSM said Malaysia and Indonesia had used the Working Committee Meeting platform to periodically discuss issues regarding Indonesian domestic helpers (PDI), whereby the next meeting is expected to be held in Indonesia in February.

"Malaysia remains committed to implementing the One Channel System (OCS) as the sole platform for the entrance of Indonesian domestic helpers into this country so as to avoid their entrance through other channels which could lead to them becoming victims of labour exploitation," the KSM said.