Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said illegal immigrants, detained under the Illegal Immigrants Comprehensive Settlement Programme, would be given another chance to be legalised, Malaysian daily, The Star, reported on Friday.
The Malaysian home minister said the decision was taken in view of the country’s need for foreign manpower in certain sectors.
“We have also listened to the appeal from employers. Some of them were cheated by outsourcing companies [and] they did not get the [legal work] documents even though they have paid between 3,000 to 8,000 Malaysian Ringgit, so we cannot penalise them,” The Star quoted him as saying.
“I think they should not be penalised, but we need to take action against the outsourcing companies as well,” Dr Ahmad Zahid said during a press conference at the ministry, The Star reported.
Meanwhile, Mantu Kumar Biswas, Bangladeshi labour counsellor to Malaysia on Friday told the Dhaka Tribune: “Our Expatriates’ Welfare Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossian, during his recent visit to Malaysia, requested the Malaysian government to allow our undocumented labourers to work.”
According to officials at Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia, there are several thousand undocumented Bangladeshi migrants in Malaysia.
Over 400,000 Bangladeshis are currently working in Malaysia.
