Malaysian gov't clarifies plans to bring in Bangladeshi workers

The Malaysian government on Friday clarified its plan to bring in Bangladeshi workers to meet workforce shortage, amid concerns over reports that some 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers will arrive to work in Malaysia in three years.

"The perception that 1.5 million workers will be brought in from Bangladesh to work in Malaysia is not true," said Malaysian Human Resources Minister Richard Riot, adding that the figure was the total amount of Bangladeshi workers available to work overseas.

"The figure of 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers is actually the number of workers registered with the government of Bangladesh... for the purpose of employment to 139 countries in the world including Malaysia," he told a press conference.

Riot said the employment will be subject to the actual demand of various sectors in Malaysia.

Malaysian and Bangladeshi governments inked an agreement on the employment of workers Thursday to enhance official cooperation.

Local media reported that the workers will mostly take up the so-called "3D", difficult, dirty and dangerous jobs, which have lost appeal to the local workforce.

The plan to bring in large amount of foreign migrant workers has given rise to concerns on the loss of job opportunities to locals and the potential social impact, as well as the worsening problem of illegal migrant workers.

The total number of documented foreign workers in Malaysia amounted to 2.1 million out of a population of around 29 million, but government estimated that there were a total of around 1.7 million illegal workers in the country.

Riot insisted that Malaysia has sufficient laws and policies to regulate foreign workers.