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A Malaysian official said on Thursday that some details needed to be resolved before Malaysia and Indonesia could sign a bilateral agreement on the rights of migrant workers, and he was not sure how long it would take.

The statement by Amran Mohamed Zain, the deputy head of mi ssion at the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta, stood in contrast to a statement released by the Indonesian government, which said the two countries were ready to sign the revised memorandum of understanding.

The Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration said Malaysia had agreed to key provisions, including giving Indonesian migrant workers structured leave, contract security, and health and life insurance benefits.

However, Amran said his government was still reviewing a number of details.

“There are still some points that need to be discussed, like workers’ wages. In our country, there’s no such thing as a minimum wage. The market will determine salary based on the quality of work,” he said.

He added that another issue was whether the workers could retain their passports or must continue to surrender them to their employers.

Cost structure, which deals with the payment for workers’ transportation, recruitment expenditures and training, is also a concern, because employers and workers need to determine who pays what, Amran said.

He added that the Malaysian government was seeking equal protection of the rights of workers and employers.

“Given what we have on the table right now, I can’t give an exact time frame as to when we will resolve this,” he said.

“We are interested in achieving a sustainable solution so workers and their employers won’t have to encounter any problems.”

Muhaimin Iskandar, the minister of manpower and transmigration, said on Thursday that the country had made significant strides in sealing the agreement with Malaysia, with a draft possibly finished as early as March 25.

The ministry has said Malaysia had agreed that migrant workers would be allowed to keep their passports, take a week of leave and receive a minimum monthly wage of 600 ringgit (Rp 1.7 million).

“After negotiating for months, we have finally finished making the gist of the MoU. This is an important moment for our migrant workers,” Muhaimin said.

But Amran said he was not aware of such developments.

“Maybe they’ve been talking directly with our officials from Malaysia. I can’t say for sure when the MoU will be finalized,” he said.

In June 2009, the government decided to suspend sending new workers to Malaysia, including domestic workers, construction workers and plantation hands, until revisions were made to the 2006 bilateral labor agreement.

Calls to revise the agreement were sparked by an incident involving an Indonesian maid who was tortured by her Malaysian employer for three years.