The government has accused Bangladeshis of sneaking into the country as students to work illegally, saying their circumstances are "fishy" and they cause social problems.

Home Minister Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said Bangladesh workers were still spotted on construction sites and in restaurants despite a ban on their employment two years ago over concerns they were causing "social problems".

"They have blue eyes and look like Hindi film actors and they create social problems here," Radzi was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times of the reason for the ban. He did not elaborate.

Hindi films are popular amongst Malaysian women, as are handsome male Bollywood film stars.

He said Bangladeshis of between 25 and 30 years of age were entering Malaysia as students to learn English but were working instead.

"This is really fishy. The age-bracket is suitable for employment, Bangladesh is an English-speaking country and it makes little sense for them to study English here," said the minister, citing examples of colleges where the foreign students learning English are mainly from Bangladesh.

"I can go on and on. I assure you, there are thousands of them," he said.

Radzi accused of racism

The minister's comments on Monday earned the ire of migrant workers' rights group Tenaganita, which accused Radzi of racism and treating workers as less than human.

"Tenaganita is shocked and disturbed over the racist, chauvinist and patronising statement of the home minister," said group director Irene Fernandez.

"How can you use the good looks of people as a reason for blaming and for freezing the recruitment?" she said in a statement.

Fernandez said relationships between Malaysian women and male foreign workers were likely to develop.

"Has the Malaysian government forgotten that we are recruiting not just workers but human persons who have social needs too? These policies are unjust and inhuman," said Fernandez, who also criticised the government's policy of disallowing migrant workers from marrying Malaysians or other migrants.

Similar concerns over Pakistanis

Radzi has laid the blame on labour agents for the alleged scam and said his ministry will take action.

Malaysia relies on foreign unskilled labour to do dirty, poorly paid work that locals shun, and is one of Asia's largest importers of foreign labour.

The government has been looking for workers from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Burma and Vietnam to address a labour shortage after a crackdown on illegal immigrants last March.

Malaysia has also tried to fast-track the recruitment of Pakistanis, but Radzi said there were similar concerns over "social problems", since they look like Bangladeshis.

"But we will wait for them to start arriving and see how we can contain the problem," he said.