Malaysia will ban foreigners with criminal records from working in the country, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Tan Chai Ho said today.
Tan said police investigations showed that foreign workers with criminal backgrounds contributed to the rising crime rate in the country, state Bernama news agency reported.
"If they have a clean record, they will be allowed to enter the country. If not, they will be deported to their countries," Tan was quoted as saying.
Tan said the government would ask authorities in other countries to furnish background information on their citizens who wanted to work in Malaysia, to ensure they had no criminal record.
His comments came as opposition mounted to a Malaysian plan to restrict the movement of foreign workers.
Police chief Musa Hassan proposed recently that the movements of foreign workers be restricted to prevent them from becoming involved in crime.
No decision made yet
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said yesterday the government had yet to make a firm decision on the proposal.
"We have to study the implications. The government has not taken a position on this yet. If we have to do something drastic, then we have to consider all the implications," he told reporters.
Najib said Musa's proposal may have been prompted by the rising incidence of serious crimes committed by foreigners.
Musa said crimes committed by overseas workers, especially Indonesians, had escalated. He said they committed about 5,000 crimes last year, which accounted for almost two per cent of 232,620 cases recorded.
- AFP 
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