Human rights organisation Tenaganita and the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) are calling on the government to grant refugees the legal right to work in the country.

Tenaganita programme director Glorene Das told Malaysiakini this will benefit both the industries facing a labour shortage and the refugee community by giving the latter the proper documentation to earn a living.

“Many of them (Rohingya refugees) have lived here forever and they are actually skilled workers. The ones from other countries are also professionals and skilled as well.

"So why can't we use the resource that they come with to...