JAKARTA: Indonesia is threatening to put back a moratorium on allowing maids from the country to Malaysia if their neighbor does not honor terms of a previous agreement to protect migrant workers in the country. The move has left many female workers in Indonesia stranded and without work as a result. Humphrey Djemat, a spokesman for the government task force on migrant worker protection, said on Tuesday in a public statement to reporters that there could be no backsliding on the 11 points in the memorandum of understanding. “This time around we're adamant that there should not be any compromise because the whole point is to protect our migrant workers,” he said. “If you've agreed on something, it can't be changed.” According to the Indonesian government's labor body, an official told Bikyamasr.com that “workers will be allowed into the country and be given a job that is of one duty only.” That official said they would be paid 700 ringgit ($229) monthly, a far cry from previous salaries of three to four times that with wealthier employers. “I can't work for that. I would barely survive and have little to send back home,” one Indonesian maid, Monjina, told Bikyamasr.com. The decision is an “effort to crackdown on exploitation that has often been part of women in this country working in homes abroad and we want it to end,” the official added, who was not authorized to speak to the media. Malaysia's news agency Bernama reported that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak expressed surprise over the weekend when asked about the new requirements by the Indonesian government. The Prime Minister described the new conditions announced by Indonesia's Labor Placement Development director-general Reyna Usman as “not reasonable.” “We hope on their side they will revert to the agreement reached between me [and] Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono [on this issue],” the prime minister said. “All the criteria [for the sending of Indonesian maids to Malaysia] were discussed and the ministers concerned were satisfied with the outcome. No further issues were raised then.” Razak said he was surprised that after the agreement on the sending over of the maids was signed, issues on the matter were raised on the Indonesian side. For women in Indonesia looking to go abroad for work, in recent months their options have become smaller and smaller. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/UHiUB Tags: featured, Indonesia, Maids, Malaysia, Work Section: Editor's choice, Features, Latest News, Southeast Asia, Women
