I

ndonesia will resume sending domestic workers to Malaysia next month after a two-year moratorium, as the two countries inch closer to signing a new agreement protecting migrant workers, a minister says.

Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said the two countries were expected to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on migrant workers’ protection in May. “If the MoU is signed, migrant workers will be allowed to work [in Malaysia],” Muhaimin told reporters at the Presidential Palace after a cabinet meeting on migrant worker issues on Monday.

Muhaimin said the two governments had agreed on the three pending issues that would be stipulated in the MoU.

“An Indonesian worker would get one day off a week. If they don’t use it, the worker will get double salary [on that day],” he said.

“The second point is that Indonesian migrant workers will retain their passports,” he added.

The minister said the two countries would set up a joint taskforce to find immediate solutions for any problems involving migrant workers. It was the third pending issue.

In the past, migrant workers’ passports were held by employers and no holidays were provided. Indonesia ceased sending migrant workers to Malaysia in June 2009 after a string of abuse cases sparked public protest.

Muhaimin said that, during the moratorium, the number of migrant workers illegally entering Malaysia decreased sharply, totalling only 11,000 people. The prior rate was about 8,000 per month.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyoho set up an integrated team to evaluate protection and replacement systems for migrant workers abroad. The team was headed by Muhaimin and assisted by Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Finance Ministry with a number of senior officials.

The team would work for three months to decide whether Indonesia still needed to impose a temporary or permanent moratorium on sending migrant workers to certain countries. Indonesia currently bans migrant workers from going to Jordan, Kuwait and Malaysia.

Several Indonesian migrant workers have been in the global spotlight after allegedly being tortured while overseas, suffering serious injuries.

—JP/Adianto P. Simamora