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igrant worker negotiations between Indonesia and Malaysia have deadlocked after Kuala Lumpur proposed that employers keep the passports of Indonesian maids.

“Malaysia wants Malaysian employers to be allowed to retain the passports of Indonesian workers despite the fact that both Indonesia and Malaysia previously agreed that the workers will have the right to retaining their passports,” a source who is close to the matter told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The source, who declined to be named, said that Malaysia wanted to “hide” behind the rules and retain the right to hold the passports, adding the issue had forced both sides to agree to disagree for now.

Both governments had agreed that Malaysian employers would bear 70 percent of the total cost of employing and placing Indonesian maids in Malaysia, while the workers would cover the remainder, said the source.

Malaysian Ambassador Dato’ Syed Munshe Afdzaruddin said the negotiations had been progressing and that there was no deadlock.

Indonesia and Malaysia previously signed a letter of intent (LoI) on Indonesian workers on May 18 after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak met with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during Yudhoyono’s two-day visit to Kuala Lumpur.

Under the LoI, Malaysian employers must allow more than 2 million Indonesian employees to hold their passports and allow the employees one day off a week.

Two outstanding issues remain under negotiation: Setting a minimum wage and a cost structure for recruiting and placing of migrant workers.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said he did not know the details of the negotiations, but “it would be hard for us to accept something different from the spirit of the LoI”.

“It is logically unacceptable to make a new decision that is less than what has been agreed to by the ministers,” he told the Post.

Indonesian Manpower and Transmigration Ministry representative Roostiawati said there was “no deadlock”.

Roostiawati, who is in charge of the ministry’s placement program for overseas workers, said it was impossible for Indonesia and Malaysia to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on domestic employees by the end of this month after the delays.

She also said the Indonesian government had warned the Malaysian government to stick to the terms of the previously signed LoI.

Roostiawati said both sides had agreed that the cost of the employing and placing Indonesian maids would be lower than the current market rate, while refusing to name that number or the portion that would be covered by personally by Malaysian employers or Indonesian maids.

Malaysian Home Ministry deputy secretary-general Datuk Raja Azahar Raja Abdul Manap said that the cost would be lower than the RM8,000 (US$2,547) to RM9,000 which employers now paid, but higher than the RM4,000 fixed in the 2006 MoU, as quoted by Malaysian news agency Bernama