"The governments of the two countries agreed for an earlier discussion of the renewed MoU. The basic things in the renewal and technical matters had already been discussed in detail in a Joint Working Group," the minister said in a press release in Jakarta Monday.
The agreement on signing the renewed MoU had been reached in a bilateral meeting between Minister Iskandar and Malaysia`s Human Resources Minister Datuk DR. S. Subramaniam in Kuala Lumpur on Monday discussing an increased TKI placement and protection in Malaysia.
The signing of the MoU would put an end to Indonesia`s moratorium on Malaysia as it had been demanding for improved working conditions of TKIs in Malaysia, he said.
The future joint task force would consist of the representatives of the two countries to supervise the implementation of the MoU.
"Any cases and problems of the placement and protection of TKIs, would have to be immediately solved by the Joint Task Force," Muhaimin said.
He also said that an agreement had been reached on several important matters which had been very difficult to solve including weekly holidays and that passports were held by their owners themselves, no longer by their employers.
"We have also agreed that the wages of TKIs in Malaysia will be paid by banks, while cost structure had been informally discussed in technical discussions and agreement have been reached," Muhaimin said.
In the meantime, with regard the minimum wages of the TKIs, the minister said it would be set in very working contract approved of and sanctioned by the Manpower Attache in Malaysia.
With regard to the TKIs who had abandoned their employment, it would be the responsibility of each of the respective agencies except if they ran away from violence, which would be handled and solved by the joint task force, Muhaimin added. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
