KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 — There are 1,781,598 foreign workers from 13 countries in Malaysia as of June 30, according to the Home Ministry.

The ministry said based on the records by the Immigration Department, Indonesian workers topped the list with 728,870 people, followed by Nepalese (405,898), Bangladeshis (221,089) and Myanmar nationals (127,705).

"The number of foreign workers from India is 114,455, Pakistan (59,281), the Philippines (56,153), Vietnam (29,039), China (15,399), Thailand (12,603), Sri Lanka (5,964), Cambodia (5,103) and Laos (39),” the ministry said in a written reply to a question from Teresa Kok Suh Sim (DAP-Seputeh) at Dewan Rakyat here today.

Kok had asked for the breakdown of the number of foreign workers in the country.

The ministry also said that the government had been implementing a rehiring programme that started on February 15, 2016 and ends December 31 this year for illegal workers from 15 source countries.

The programme is aimed at giving the illegal foreign workers a chance to obtain valid work permits to meet labour demands in specific sectors, as well as to enable the government to know the number of illegal foreign workers in the country for monitoring and security purposes. — Bernama