GEORGE TOWN, March 12 — The Ministry of Human Resources (KSM) is confident that the cost of hiring Indonesian domestic workers will be reduced, after several negotiations conducted this month.

Its Minister V. Sivakumar said several negotiations and meetings have been held between representatives of the two countries, including the Malaysia-Indonesia Joint Working Group Meeting, to resolve this issue.

He added that the Indonesian Minister of Manpower 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 that 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 Ministry of Home Affairs’ recent visit to Indonesia,” he told reporters after attending the KSM’s Meet the Clients’ Day, here today.

He explained that currently, 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 Jan 22, there are 399,827 Indonesians working in Malaysia in the manufacturing, construction, plantation, service, agriculture, domestic workers, mining and quarrying sectors.

Of that number, 63,323 work as foreign domestic workers, and Indonesians represent the largest number in the domestic sector in Malaysia.

Earlier, Sivakumar announced that the National Human Capital Conference and Exhibition (NHCCE) 2023 — Northern Region will be held in Penang, from May 31 to June 1.

He said that the conference will bring together more than 20 speakers and 50 exhibitors from various industries, and is expected to attract more than 1,000 delegates from the northern region. — Bernama