PUTRAJAYA – Foreign workers, especially new domestic helpers would not be able to enter the country at least until the end of the year although the Ministry of Human Resources is aware of the burdens of the employers.
Minister of Human Resources, Datuk Seri M Saravanan said that he has discussed about the issue with his Indonesian counterpart, Ida Fauziyah via virtual conference on 6 May.
“The discussion also concluded the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Intake and Placement of Indonesian Domestic Helpers (PDI).
“During the discussion, the two parties agreed to kick-start the negotiation on the MoU at the senior officers level between the two ministries,” he said in a statement today.
According to him, the discussion between Malaysia and Indonesia will begin immediately after the lockdown period in Indonesia ends and the officer of the Ministry of Manpower are back to work.
According Saravanan, the foreign domestic helpers issue was raised after there was no new helpers being allowed to enter the country following the Movement Control Order (MCO) to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said, most of the foreign domestic helpers in Malaysia are Indonesians.
As of 28 February 2021, there are 73,173 Indonesian domestic helpers in Malaysia.
In early February, Prime Minister Tan Sri Mahiaddin Yassin had sealed an agreement with the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo to speed of the PDI MoU that ended on 30 May 2016. –MalaysiaGazette
