Malaysia and Indonesia Thursday agreed that their respective foreign workers recruitment agencies engage in a formal cooperation in the sending of Indonesian domestic maids to Malaysia.

The agreement was reached between Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia at their annual consultation in Jakarta after Najib raised the proposal.

Najib said the involvement of the private sector representing Malaysia and Indonesia in a joint understanding in the business was an extension of the MoU on the recruitment and protection of Indonesian maids, as agreed by the two countries in Bali in 2011.

The Bali MoU saw Indonesia agreeing to withdraw its moratorium on the sending of maids to Malaysia.

"The president also agreed that an MoU be signed between the Malaysian Association of Foreign Workers Agencies (Papa) with the Indonesian Manpower Suppliers Association (Apjati)," Najib told a joint news conference at the conclusion of the annual consultation at the Merdeka Palace of the Indonesian president.

"If both sides can sign the MoU, I am confident we can get the number of Indonesian maids that we need," he said.

Although there was much demand from Malaysian employers for Indonesian maids, their despatch by the Indonesian foreign workers agencies through cooperation with the Malaysian foreign workers agencies has not been encouraging.

Among the inhibitive factors is believed to be the recruitment fee of RM4,511 imposed by the Indonesian and Malaysian authorities, which was said to be unprofitable for the agencies.

The question of alleged low wages offered by Malaysian employers compared to places such as Hong Kong and countries of the Middle East is also believed to be a reason why Indonesian maids are not keen to come to Malaysia.

In a statement issued Thursday, Najib said only 513 Indonesian maids were sent through the channel agreed to in the existing MoU.

What is clear from the current development is that the number of Indonesian maids brought into Malaysia by the foreign workers agencies is too low to match the demand from Malaysian employers who need about 30,000 maids annually.

It is understood that about 127,000 Indonesian maids are currently registered in Malaysia.

Malaysian Human Resources Minister Datuk Richard Riot, when met after the talks, said the Malaysia-Indonesia Joint Working Group (JWG) on the recruitment and protection of maids agreed in September to set at RM7,800 the new fee for the recruitment of Indonesian domestic maids.

Of the total fee, RM6,000 would be borne by the employer and RM1,800 by the worker. So far, there has been no MoU on the setting of the fee at RM7,800.

Riot said it was better that the recruiting of Indonesian maids be managed by the foreign workers agencies at the business-to-business (B to B) level because there had been little progress at the government-to-government level.