Freeze on foreign workers, including domestic workers, to be extended until Dec 31

PETALING JAYA: The freeze on foreign workers, including domestic workers, will be extended until Dec 31, says Datuk Seri M. Saravanan.

The Human Resources Minister said any decision to bring in foreign workers including domestic workers would be announced by the government after a discussion with the ministry, National Security Council and the other relevant ministries.

"I urge and advise private employment agencies that are registered and have been given licences by us to not make any statements or advertisements that will confuse employers regarding the entry of domestic workers from source countries," he said in a statement on Sunday (Sept 19).

Saravanan noted that the majority of domestic workers in the country were from Indonesia, adding that the ministry was currently still in the negotiation stage with the Indonesian government to finalise the memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding the recruitment of the Indonesian domestic workers that ended in May 2016.

As of August 2021, he added that there were 92,481 foreign domestic workers in the country, of which 64,181 were from Indonesia.