KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 — Indonesian workers could well be sent back as Malaysia seeks to maintain the size and diversity of its foreign workforce, a senior Human Resources Ministry official said today.

Deputy secretary-general (operations) Dr Mohd Ghazali Abas said it is a government strategy to diversify the workforce, as Malaysia cannot rely on a single country for foreign manpower.

“Indirectly you may say that, because we want to cap at 15 per cent, there must be a trade-off, so it has to be based on demand,” he said in a forum session here when asked if Indonesian workers would be sent home for the sake of size control.

He was responding to fellow panellist Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers president Datuk Seri Choo Boon at a forum held during the launch of the World Bank’s Malaysia Economic Monitor report on immigrant labour.

Choo also asked about the government’s goal in the 11th Malaysia Plan of creating 1.5 million jobs, as well as the plan to bring in 1.5 million foreign workers.

While noting that Bangladesh is ready to send 1.5 million of its nationals to work in Malaysia, Mohd Gazali said this has to be based on real demand for such labour, and that these workers would not be simply brought in without existing jobs in place.

“It has to be based on demand,” he said. “We need to know where these workers need to be placed, what industries, which occupation, what salary, so those are certainly part of the exercise.

“And if they need to repatriate Indonesians, there is a gauge, because we want to keep at 15 per cent, because as I said, beyond that, it will trigger unemployment among our bottom 40 per cent.

“The short answer is yes, it will replace to a certain extent the Indonesians, because we want to diversify the source country.”

Mohd Gazali did not elaborate on the circumstances in which such repatriation of Indonesians labourers would take place.

Earlier, Choo said manufacturers have been told to switch from relying on labour-intensive models to using machines as foreign workers may not always be available.

“I also tell my members, what happens when the source dries up one day, can you always depend on the fact that there will be Bangladeshis, what happens when Bangladesh becomes a developed country?” he said.

He said that the availability of cheap labour was suppressing wage levels in Malaysia.

Minister Datuk Paul Low said manufacturers unable to automate should shift their operations to neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar, as Malaysia should practise the policy of “prosper thy neighbour” as an open economy.

“Because the more successful Malaysia grows economically and if the neighbouring countries are not growing, you are going to get unintended migrants.

“Because they can’t find a job in their country, because of poverty, they will just migrate to the best place. And believe me, Malaysia is the best place for migrant labourers to find a job,” he said.

According to data from the Immigration Department and the Home Affairs Ministry that was featured in the World Bank’s report, Malaysia’s largest group of immigrant workers in 2014 came from Indonesia at 39 per cent, followed by Nepal and Bangladesh citizens at 24 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.

The government data for 2014 showed Indonesians mostly working in plantations and construction, while the Nepalese mostly work in the manufacturing sector at around 70 per cent and, to a smaller extent, in the services industry.

Bangladeshis mostly worked in the manufacturing and construction sectors.