Human Resources Minister Richard Riot has denied claims that the country will bring in 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers.

At a press conference today, Richard said the widely spread perception was simply "not correct".

"The perception that 1.5 million workers will be brought in from Bangladesh to work in Malaysia is not true," Richard said.

"The figure that has been mentioned is actually the number of workers registered with the government of Bangladesh through the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment.

"This is not the number that will be recruited (by Malaysia). Bangladesh is sending workers to 139 countries throughout the world," he said.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed yesterday by both Malaysia and Bangladesh, he said, was just like any other MoUs.

When it was pointed out to him that Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was the one who announced the figure, Richard said he preferred to "stick to his answer".

He added: "It came from him (Zahid) and I think I will stick to my answer saying that the 1.5 million is actually the number of registered Bangladeshi workers."

Asked why he had allowed the perception to persist, Richard said he wanted to wait until the MoU was signed.

“That's the reason why I, as human resources minister, opted not to say anything.

“That's why I called for the press conference. Not until I signed (it)... it is perhaps rumours or hearsay, even though the word came from the deputy prime minister,” he said.

MoU subject to review

Putrajaya yesterday inked the deal with Dhaka to bring in the Bangladeshi workers into the country.

Zahid, in June last year, announced that 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers would be brought to Malaysia in stages to meet the needs of employers from numerous sectors.

The workers will enter Malaysia under the G2G (government-to-government) Plus scheme which allows them employment in the construction, service, manufacturing and agriculture sectors, apart from the existing plantation sector opened to them.

Meanwhile, Richard said the MoU signed did not mention any figure, just like other MoUs Malaysia has signed with seven other countries - Indonesia, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

However, the MoU will be subject to a review after five years.

Asked for the total number of Bangladeshi workers that will actually be brought in, the minister said it all depended on the demand.

Employers and companies, said Richard, must log in online, through the Bangladesh Workers Management System, to apply for workers.

There is currently no available list of companies that have registered, he said.

Sabah, Sarawak have own labour laws

Asked whether other states would follow the way of Sabah and Sarawak, which have stated that they would not accept Bangladeshi workers, Richard said the two states have their own labour ordinance.

“Other states in Peninsular Malaysia don't have their own labour ordinance. Therefore, the question of other states following suit does not arise,” he said.

Asked whether the government planned to reduce its reliance on foreign workers, Richard said it was Malaysia’s policy to ensure that the maximum number of foreign workers would not be more than 15 percent of the country’s total workforce.

“The current workforce that we have in the country is 15.3 million. (Some) 15 percent of this number is 2.3 million, we have not exceeded the figure.”

Although Malaysia currently has 2,135,035 foreign workers, he admitted that the cap at 2.3 million did not take into account illegal migrant workers.

“For every 10 legal foreign workers, there are eight illegal workers. That means there are about 1.7 million undocumented workers in the country,” he said.

Registered Bangladeshi workers in the country totalled 282,287, while Indonesia still tops the list with 828,283 workers, followed by Nepali workers at 526,933.