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KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 — Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob asserted today Malaysia’s international borders will remain closed to all, including foreign workers, following news reports of Bangladeshi migrant workers protesting in their home country over their inability to return to work here.
Ismail Sabri maintained that the entry of foreign workers to Malaysia remains restricted due to Covid-19, adding that the Immigration Department has neither proposed to the government to relax the restriction nor change the policy to date.
“I would like to stress that our policy to close the borders to foreigners still remains as it is and has not changed. We do not allow foreign workers to enter the country except those with permission obtained from the Immigration Department.
“And as we are informed, Bangladesh is one of the 23 countries for which we have tightened entry restrictions because it is among high-risk countries in terms of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“So even if many wished to return here, we do not allow them to do so,” he said in a press conference here.
On Monday, hundreds of workers wishing to return to Malaysia held a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka, Bangladesh, according to the Dhaka Tribune.
The daily quoted its Foreign Secretary Masud Momen as saying both countries were in discussions over the return of Bangladeshi workers stuck in their home country due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
It added that a significant number of Bangladeshi workers had returned home before the pandemic and could not go back to their workplaces due the coronavirus outbreak, with their visas, in some cases, having expired.
Ismail Sabri also pointed out he was not in the know whether the Bangladeshi ambassador had met with his Malaysians counterpart before stressing that discussions between countries were not restricted.
