THE Human Resources Ministry is confident that the cost of hiring Indonesian domestic workers will be reduced, following several negotiations conducted this month.

Minister V. Sivakumar said several meetings had been held between representatives of the two countries to resolve the matter.

He added that the Indonesian manpower minister will visit the country in the middle of this month, and a meeting will be held to review this issue.

“It is the government’s intention to reduce the cost of hiring domestic workers from Indonesia. I am confident a decision will be reached at the end of March regarding this issue.

“The same issue was also discussed during the prime minister’s visit and the Home Ministry’s recent visit to Indonesia,” he told reporters today.

Sivakumar said at present, the cost of hiring Indonesian domestic workers is around RM15,000, and this stems from the cost borne in the source country itself.

“The country has ‘multilevel recruitment’, where, for example, the domestic workers are brought from one rural area and may go through several agencies before arriving in our country, so the cost becomes high,” he said.

As of January 22, there are 399,827 Indonesians working in Malaysia in the manufacturing, construction, plantation, service, agriculture, mining, quarrying and domestic sectors.

Of that number, 63,323 work as domestic workers. Indonesians represent the largest number in the domestic sector in Malaysia. – Bernama, March 12, 2023.