M'sia to cut intake of foreign workers

M'sia to cut intake of foreign workers

MALAYSIA: Malaysia plans to tighten rules for hiring foreign labor because there is an oversupply of migrant workers in the country, reports said on Thursday.

Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper that Malaysia needed more than a million foreign workers but there were currently 1.2 million registered with the ministry, excluding illegal immigrants.

The cabinet is concerned about excess foreign labor and wants to plug the loopholes that cause the oversupply because they undermine the hire "locals-first" policy, he said.

"We want to tighten the regulations on the hiring of foreign workers because we fear there are some employers, especially in the manufacturing sector, who prefer to hire foreign workers ... rather then employ locals just to save costs," Fong said. --AFP