This follows a meeting of the joint working group (JWG) in Jogjakarta on Feb 21.

Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia Hermono said representatives from both countries present at the meeting agreed on the need to lower the cost by looking at the various components involved in bringing in the domestic helpers.

“We will talk to the organisations representing the recruitment agencies in our respective countries and look at ways of bringing the cost down. This cannot be done overnight,” he told FMT.

“We will table the matter at the next JWG meeting in Kuala Lumpur in June.”

Hermono, who was at the meeting, said the representatives included officials from the human resources ministry and immigration department of both countries.

In the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the employment and protection of Indonesian domestic servants inked on April 1 last year, the total cost for Malaysian employers to bring in maids was capped at RM15,000.

However, there have been reports of some employers having paid as high as RM20,000 for their domestic helpers.

Human resources minister V Sivakumar had also said recently the cost must be brought down as it was too high.

On this, Hermono said the embassy had not received any complaint although it had read reports about such claims.

“I have said this before and I am saying it again, lodge an official complaint with us if any agency in Malaysia or Indonesia charges more than RM15,000. We know what to do.”

On a recent proposal by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to do away with agents to bring the cost down, Hermono said it would not be possible as the MoU specified that the recruitment of maids, referred to as the informal sector, had to go through the registered agents.

However, he said recruitment for the formal sector, which included all other categories, could be done directly by Malaysian employers using registered Indonesian agents.

“It is impossible to do away with agencies to recruit foreign workers in Indonesia,” he said.

“It is a huge country with people from many remote areas wanting to go abroad. It’s impossible for the government departments or agencies in Jakarta to handle such a huge movement.”

As of Jan 22, there were 399,827 Indonesians working in Malaysia in the manufacturing, construction, plantation, service, agriculture, foreign domestic workers, mining and quarrying sectors.

Of that number, 63,323 were domestic workers. Indonesians comprised the largest number in this sector.