KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 — Malaysia is being made a “laughing stock” due to the contradictory statements between its human resources minister and home minister who are involved in the bilateral agreement on the intake of workers with Indonesia, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok said today.
“I read the news reports on the Memorandum of Understanding on maid intake between Malaysia and Indonesia with great amusement,” Kok said in a statement.
“Both Human Resources Minister (Datuk Seri) M. Savaranan and Home Minister (Datuk Seri) Hamzah Zainuddin seem to be at great odds in reaching an agreement on this issue. Malaysia is now a laughing stock,” she added.
Saravanan and Hamzah have been accused of throwing the spanner into efforts to streamline the MoU with Jakarta, ostensibly because the two come from parties now at war with each other — MIC, a component in the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and Bersatu respectively.
Both parties are part of the federal government, but have crossed swords in recent state elections; they are expected to do so again in the coming March 12 Johor vote.
Tension between the two ministers were said to have arisen after Hamzah openly engaged Indonesian Ambassador Hermono in a public spat shortly after Saravanan announced that Putrajaya and Jakarta will sign the MoU on domestic worker intake February 8, in Bali, Indonesia.
Hermono had said that the event will be called off as Indonesia is not convinced with the commitment of Malaysia on safeguarding workers’ rights.
According to the Indonesian ambassador, the Malaysian Immigration Department has been present at only a select few negotiation meetings, which he felt reflected a lack of commitment on the agency’s part to respect the rights of Indonesian workers that would be sent to work here.
Hamzah also claimed he had reached a consensus with his Indonesian counterpart during his working visit to Indonesia last month, according to a news report on February 10, yet Hermono had reportedly said “there was no meeting held with the minister in charge of Indonesia’s immigration during Hamzah’s Jakarta working visit”.
Hamzah’s claim also raised eyebrows since the purview regarding labour movement in Indonesia would have been the Law and Human Rights Minister and not the Indonesian Home Minister.
Kok, a former minister, chided Hamzah, calling him ignorant and that his action was unbecoming of a minister.
“What is wrong with our home minister? How is it that he did not know that the minister in charge of Labour and Domestic Workers — dealing on the MoU with Malaysia in Indonesia, is not Home Affairs minister? Isn’t this the basic information that Hamzah should know?” Kok said.
Kok added that Hamzah is also seemingly sabotaging the discussion between Saravanan and Indonesia.
“Ambassador Hermono said while the Human Resources Ministry of Malaysia and Indonesia were discussing the flow chart of One Channel System (OCS), suddenly the Malaysian Immigration Department issued a new policy for entries using MyTravelPass,” she noted.
The new policy is inconsistent with the draft MoU for entries from Indonesia to Malaysia which states that it will only be through the OCS, Kok suggested.
Indonesia provides much of the workforce for many of Malaysia’s crucial industries apart from domestic helpers. Kok said as long as this MoU is not finalised, it will affect the intake of workers in other fields too.
The DAP lawmaker urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to intervene and take over the negotiations with Indonesia to “save Malaysia from the current embarrassment.”
