End in sight for moratorium on labor export to Malaysia

The Indonesian government says it will soon revoke a moratorium on the export of migrant workers (TKI) to Malaysia, citing the latter's “improving” stance regarding treatment on those foreign workers.

“The moratorium on sending TKI to Malaysia has been in place for two years. Besides, we've already signed a new MoU with Malaysia,” National Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) chief Moh. Jumhur Hidayat said Thursday in Semarang.

Jumhur added that the Malaysian government stance on the issue of Indonesian migrant workers had improved, citing clauses in the new MoU ruling that migrant workers must retain their own passports, among other things. Previously, their passports were often taken by employers and agencies that placed them in Malaysia.

The new MoU also stipulates that the workers now have the right for one day off per week, and provides “clearer” work contracts and rules on improved payments.

The MoU was signed by Indonesian Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar and Malaysian Human Resources Minister S. Subramaniam in the Indonesian city of Bandung in May.

The moratorium was imposed in June 2009, following several incidents in which migrant workers’ were mistreated.

For similar reasons, the Indonesian government has also issued a moratorium on the export of Indonesian workers to Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.