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Indonesia, Malaysia tout ‘maximum’ rights in renewed migrant labor deal
Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob visited Jakarta ahead of Ramadan to ink a major migrant labor deal and discuss a range of other bilateral issues.
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo (left) and Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob (right) wave to journalists after a meeting on Nov. 11, 2021. Ismail Sabri visited for a second time on Friday to renew a major bilateral migrant labor deal. (Reuters/Courtesy of Laily Rachev/Indonesia's Presidential Palace)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo rolled out the red carpet for Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Friday as they oversaw the signing of a labor deal that they said sought to guarantee “maximum” rights for Indonesians in Malaysia.
Jokowi hosted Ismail Sabri at the State Palace in Jakarta, the second official visit of the Malaysian PM to Indonesia since taking office in August of last year. Ismail Sabri stopped by Bogor Palace during his first visit in November.
The two leaders oversaw the long-awaited renewal of a labor deal on Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia, almost six years after the previous agreement lapsed.
Manpower Minister Ida Fauziah and Malaysian Human Resources Minister Saravanan Murugan signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the agreement, which contains Indonesia’s proposed consolidation of migrant labor recruitment through its One Channel System.
Afterwards, Jokowi said he expected that the system would allow both sides to monitor the entire migrant worker recruitment process.
He also called on stakeholders from both sides to implement the MoU in its entirety and said the new deal would jump-start agreements in other areas, such as efforts to prevent human trafficking and improve law enforcement cooperation.
“Indonesian migrant workers have contributed a lot to economic development in Malaysia. They should receive the maximum rights and protection from our two countries,” the President said in a press statement.
