HUMAN Resources Ministry director-general Asri Ab Rahman is at fault for failing to advise the minister on Malaysia’s ability to commit to the terms in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) it signed with Indonesia on migrant workers, a migrant welfare activist said.

Migrant Care representative Alex Ong told Malaysiakini that Asri should be removed from his post for causing Indonesia to temporarily freeze the entry of migrant workers due to a breach of the MOU.

“Bureaucrats in the home and human resources ministries are causing gaps in implementation and efficiency,” he said.

“The Human Resources director-general cannot ignore his accountability for the outcome of the MOU or ignore ongoing bad practices.”

On Wednesday, Indonesia froze all its workers from entering Malaysia due to the breach of the MOU, which was signed three months ago.

Indonesia’s ambassador to Malaysia Hermano said an official communication on the matter was sent to Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan on Tuesday.

According to Hermano, Indonesia has solid evidence that Putrajaya has been using the Maid Online System in the recruitment of Indonesian domestic workers, which is a breach of the MOU.

In March, Malaysian and Indonesian governments reached an agreement on the final draft of an MOU on the placement and protection of Indonesian domestic workers in Malaysia.

Indonesia’s Manpower Ministry said the schedule for signing the agreement between minister Ida Fauziyah and Saravanan is being determined.

The MOU agreed on salaries, weekly and annual leave entitlements, a ban on withholding passports, the right to communicate and only one domestic worker per household of six people.

In a response, the Human Resources Ministry said it will soon discuss with the Home Ministry how to respond to Indonesia’s decision to halt sending workers to Malaysia.

“The discussion will focus on ways to handle the issue of recruitment of Indonesian workers,” it said.

Ong told the news portal that bureaucratic politics in Malaysia, especially between the human resources and home ministries, was the root cause of forced labour and human trafficking in the country.

“The cabinet decision to shift some authority from the Home Ministry to the Human Resources Ministry before the signing of the MOU was indicative of this,” he said.

Ong said the Human Resources Ministry did not resolve its inter-agency matters before entering into the bilateral agreement.

“This has led to Indonesia giving Malaysia a slap in the face,” he added.

Ong urged lawmakers to prioritise this matter in the upcoming parliament session.

Former human resources minister M. Kulasegaran has demanded an explanation from the home and human resources ministries in the next parliament meeting on Monday.

In a statement, the Ipoh Barat MP slammed the government’s handling of the MOU with Indonesia following the freeze. – July 16, 2022.