Laid off foreigners may pose problems

Laid off foreigners may pose problems

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): The Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation warned yesterday that laying off some one million foreign workers amid the country's economic slowdown could pose social and security problems.

The foundation's president, Lee Lam Thye, said the foundation was concerned as 80 percent of Malaysia's 700,000 construction workers were foreigners and the country's index crime had been steadily rising since 1994.

The unloading of a huge wave of unemployed foreign labor on the streets could lead to social problems and pose a security threat to the public, he warned.

The number of index crimes -- a combination of property and violent crimes across the country -- rose to 108,807 cases in the first 11 months of 1997, up 19 percent from a year earlier, he added.

The government said Friday it was considering expelling foreign workers as the "cost" of Malaysia's economic downturn, with an estimated one million people threatened with unemployment.