PUTRAJAYA: THE Malaysian government wants to do away with foreign workers as their numbers - both legal and illegal - have reached three million.

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said he would seek the cooperation of the Human Resources Ministry to find ways to reduce the demand for foreign workers.

Speaking to reporters after visiting the Immigration Department here on Tuesday, he said the move would also ensure that there would be no unemployment among Malaysians.

He said cooperation from employers was most important as they created the demand for foreign workers and this had also caused illegal foreigners to enter the country in droves.

'We want to see the demand for foreigners totally scrapped, that is our aim. We need cooperation from those who are seeking workers.

'We need a collective and planned effort from all quarters including the Human Resources Ministry to ensure that we depend only on our own citizens,' he said, adding that illegal foreign workers were one of the biggest problems the ministry was facing.

When asked for more attractive perks and benefits for locals to take up jobs that were now dominated by foreigners, he said for an unemployed Malaysian any job would be attractive.

In Petaling Jaya, the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) and Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) said that KL must have a clear policy on migrant workers and not act on an ad hoc basis.

MEF executive director Shamsuddin Bardan said he was not against the move to scrap dependence on foreign workers but it must be planned properly.

'We don't want to have a knee-jerk reaction and be caught off-guard. This could affect productivity,' he said.

'The cause of the high influx of illegals should not be confused with employers' demand for documented workers. It's partly because the government has been too lenient,' he said.

MTUC president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud said the organisation was not against hiring migrant workers but also said the government must have a clear policy on why they were brought in. - THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK