The Bangladeshi High Commission today denied that an agency with its Prime Minister's office had posted an article on its website saying Malaysia was offering citizenship to Bangladeshi workers, provided they vote for the ruling BN.

Bangladeshi High Commissioner to Malaysia, AKM Atiqur Rahman, said neither the Bangladeshi government nor his office were aware of the article, and that he had not even seen or read the contents of the contentious piece.

"This (issue) is baseless and ill-motivated. Somebody in some corner wants to destroy the relationship between Bangladesh and Malaysia," he said when contacted by Malaysiakini.

The story was first picked up last Friday by PKR party organ Suara Keadilan, which posted a link to what appeared to be a brief summary of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to South Korea and Malaysia last year.

bangladesh prime minister office ngo affairs bureau 180911 01 The summary, posted on the website of the NGO Affairs Bureau of the Bangladesh Prime Minister's Office, said that "some of our citizens" working in Malaysia had been granted citizenship and voting rights by the Malaysian government.

The article also quoted a "highly placed source" from the Bangladesh Prime Minister's Office who allegedly confirmed that Bangladeshis were "easily conferred" Malaysian citizenship, on condition that they vote for a party representing the ruling coalition.

However, a second check by Malaysiakini today showed that the contentious article had been taken down from the the NGO Affairs Bureau website after news reports on the claims over the weekend sparked an uproar in Malaysia.

Some bloggers have raised suspicion on the posting of the article on the website, suggesting that a hacker could have planted it.

Perpetrators are ‘mad'

Atiqur insisted that the Bangladeshi government and its High Commission in Kuala Lumpur were not aware of the controversial article, describing it as "nonsense" and the work of "mad" people.

He acknowledged that Sheikh Hasina had indeed met with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak during her visit last year, but stressed that their discussions centred on legalisation of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia - not to confer Bangladeshis with Malaysian citizenship.

Asked if he had any idea who might have been responsible for posting the article on the NGO Affairs Bureau website, Atiqur said he was unsure.

"Maybe it was done by somebody, some vested corners who intentionally want to cause trouble.

"I repeat that it is nonsense, and that my government and the High Commission do not know about the article," he said, adding that he was in close contact with the Malaysian Home Ministry over the matter.

One day we'll have a Bangladeshi PM