KUALA LUMPUR: More than 1.91 million legal foreign workers were recorded to be in this country up to Dec 31 last year, according to the Immigration Department’s statistics.Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop said out of the 1,918,146, Indonesians formed the biggest number at 991,940, followed by Bangladeshis (319,020), Nepalese (182,668), Myanmars (139,731) and Indian nationals (122,382).
Replying to a question from Senator Ir Zamri Yusuf at the Dewan Negara sitting yesterday, he said the government however had no accurate data on the number of foreign workers without permits as they had entered this country illegally and their number was not recorded by any agency.
“But the government estimates that there are 1.9 million illegals in this country, on the basis that for every legal foreign worker there is one illegal.”
To another question on steps taken by the government to reduce dependency on foreign workers in the service sector, Abu Seman said the government had tightened their recruitment.
“We only allow recruitment for the posts of cooks and cleaners and as workers at island resorts. Foreigners are also not allowed to be frontliners.”
To a supplementary question from Senator Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakar on foreigners still found working at the supermarkets, restaurants and petrol stations, Abu Seman said: “Perhaps their work permits have not expired. What we did recently was to freeze the hiring of foreign workers in the other sectors besides those mentioned.” — Bernama