KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 ― Employers in Malaysia should bear the extra cost arising from new policies for Indonesians who want to become migrant workers here, Indonesia has said.
Indonesia's Manpower Ministry said it also sent a letter three weeks ago to urge the Malaysian government to review its policies and bring down costs for migrant worker placements.
“There were new migrant worker policies issued by the Malaysian government for five countries, including Indonesia.
“In fact, those policies have the potential to impose heavier financial burdens on our migrant workers so the ministry sent a letter calling on them [the Malaysian government] to give attention to this matter,” the ministry’s Indonesian Migrant Worker Management and Placement director R. Soes Hindharno was quoted saying on Monday by Indonesian daily The Jakarta Post.
Hindharno reportedly admitted the Indonesian government had not been aware of Malaysia's two-year-old new policies that touch on immigration, health and labor tax systems.
In asking for a review of Malaysia's policies, he pointed out that it now costs RP1.15 million (RM479) to arrange visas for one person, compared to the previous rate of RP50,000.
“In principle, we want the additional costs that result from the new policies to be covered by their employers in Malaysia.”
Muazzim Akbar, a member of the Indonesian Labor Exporters Association's West Nusa Tenggara chapter, said the hike in costs for migrant worker placement has driven many from the province to get to Malaysia illegally.
“They now must pay RP7.5 million per person, far higher than the previous cost of between RP4 million to RP5 million, because of the regulations,” he was quoted saying in the same report.
