JOHOR BARU, Feb 22 — Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed admitted the government is in the dark over the number of undocumented foreign workers in the country but said the figure “must be big”.

The Pulai MP said the government is determined to audit foreigners who have overstayed or have entered the nation illegally.

“No one knows the exact figure ... all kinds of figures have been bandied about. The private sector says one thing and another figure is mentioned the following day. I also don't know the figures,” he said.

“But I do know the numbers are definitely big and we will find out soon.”

The Human Resource Ministry said on Friday there were 2,135,035 documented foreign workers as of December last year and an estimated 1.7 million illegal workers in Malaysia.

The Malaysian Employers Federation, meanwhile, estimated some four million illegal workers in the country.

Nur Jazlan said the rehiring programme and on-going nationwide crackdown against illegal workers would enable the ministry to obtain the number of undocumented labourers in the country. 

The Immigration Department detained 971 out of 2,182 screened during a 12-hour nationwide operation targeting foreign nationals that started on Friday.

In a crackdown in Bukit Mertajam yesterday, it checked 844 foreigners and detained 72 men, 10 women and two children  for not having valid travel or work documents.

“That is why the Home Ministry has suspended new intake of foreign workers, including those from Bangladesh," Nur Jazlan said.

“We want to settle the issue of illegal immigrants first. We then need to know the exact number of foreigners in the various industries in the country and only then can we consider bringing in foreign workers."

Nur Jazlan said the ministry was responding to the grouses aired by the public in recent weeks after the government announced its plans to bring in more Bangladeshi workers into the country. 

He also told Malay Mail the massive nationwide crackdown to detain and deport foreigners was centred in areas with a large presence of foreign workers.

"The crackdown will continue as long as required in cities, towns and plantations where we see a huge number of foreign labourers working with various industries,” he said.

He said the operations, involving various government agencies, would keep close tabs on sectors where there  were tight regulations involving foreigners.

“It is impossible to monitor our vast borders but we have enforcement personnel in place to monitor entry and exit points," he said.