KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesia expects to start sending domestic workers to Malaysia next month following the government's plan to revoke its suspension policy on deploying domestic workers to the neighboring country since 2009.
"We plan to annul the moratorium on sending domestic workers by the end of this month," the manpower attache at the Indonesian Embassy here, Agus Triyanto, told Indonesia's Antara news agency Friday.
Agus said both governments had come to terms over contentious problems, including regulations allowing the workers to keep their passports, get one day off a week, get their salaries transferred via banks and be paid fair salaries according to the job market.
"Taskforce teams from both countries have agreed to improve the system and monitor the results," Agus added.
For Indonesia's part, the government will ensure that every worker undergoes a minimum of 200 hours of training. The government will also ensure standards of competence for every worker as required by the Malaysian government, prepare training centers, ensure valid documents and provide insurance for the workers. Agus called on the Malaysian people not to directly recruit Indonesian workers, which is against the law.
Since the moratorium in June 2009, domestic workers from Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines have travelled to Malaysia to fill the shortage.
Last year, the Malaysian Foreign Domestic Help Agency Association (Papa) announced that no less than 3,000 workers came from each country every month. However, the workers still fell short of the demand. Early this year, PAPA said that 35,000 Malaysian households were in need of domestic help.
There are currently 300,000 Indonesian domestic workers in Malaysia.
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