Nurfika Osman – The Manpower and Transmigration Ministry has set up a task force to curb the number of migrant workers heading to Malaysia in breach of a government moratorium on sending local laborers there.

"We will deploy officials to the recruitment and embarkation points for such workers in order to ensure the correct processing of sending them and mete out sanctions to those sending workers illegally," Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said on Sunday.

He said a recent letter of intent adopted by both countries only provided protection to Indonesians working in Malaysia legally, and thus was not applicable to those taking the back door. Muhaimin also said recruitment processes for migrant workers would be overhauled.

"We have advised regional administrations and other authorities to be more stringent about issuing the relevant documents to migrant workers," he said.

The agencies involved in the process to issue ID cards, medical cards, passports and certificates of competency include manpower and transmigration offices, the police, immigration offices and migrant labor placement agencies.

Muhaimin said Indonesia and Malaysia would establish a joint task force to implement the letter of intent. "We're trying to improve the mechanism through which we send workers there, based on the 2004 Placement and Protection of Indonesian Workers Abroad Law," he said.

Muhaiin added that both countries were also setting up an integrated information system accessible to officials on both sides.

"We'll also continue to intensify the coordination between related parties at regularly scheduled meetings to evaluate worker placement management," Muhaimin said.

The letter of intent is a prelude to an expected wider-reaching agreement that Muhaimin said would be finalized within two months. It was signed by Muhaimin and Malaysian Home Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Hussein on May 18 in Kuala Lumpur.

The agreement secures migrant workers' rights to one day off a week and to retain their passports. But it stipulates that both countries will seek to set a minimum wage based on market prices, despite Malaysia's recognition of salaries based on quality of work.

Activist Anis Hidayah of Migrant Care has told the Jakarta Globe: "It would be a big risk for the workers if there was no stipulation on their minimum wage. It would be unfair for them if their wages were based on the market price."

She said there needed to be a minimum wage to prevent them being underpaid or treated unfairly.

Anis urged the government to keep pushing for a minimum wage because "a standardized salary is part of a migrant worker's rights, otherwise this could lower their bargaining position."

The agreement was expected to end Indonesia's year-long moratorium on sending migrant workers to Malaysia, which came after a string of cases of Indonesians being abused by their employers.

Muhaimin said there was no set deadline for the agreement, but he expected it to be signed within two months.