Myanmar nationals who come to work in Malaysia won't be stopped, despite ban: Nur Jazlan

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will not stop Myanmar nationals who want to work here from coming, said Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed.
The deputy Home Minister said there was no government-to-government (G2G) agreement regarding the workforce supply between both countries.
"Even if Myanmar does not want to send (their workers), it doesn't mean that they don't want to come here.
"Like the Indonesians, their government also does not want to send their workers here but they still come here and work as maids," he told theSun today, reacting to the Myanmar government decision to stop its workers from coming to Malaysia.
The Myanmar government through its Labour, Immigration and Population Ministry stated that it had stopped sending its workers to Malaysia in a statement on Tuesday.
"Myanmar has temporarily stopped sending workers to Malaysia from Dec 6, 2016, because of the current situation in Malaysia," it said in a statement, without elaborating.
Nur Jazlan said the current arrangement to bring Mynamar workers was a private arrangement between recruitment agents here and their countreparts in Myanmar.
Dismissing the impact on the Malaysian economy, Nur Jazlan said that the government could always source for workers from other countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam.
"The number of Myanmar workers are not that big compared to the others here. The majority of the Myanmar workers are in the service sector. So we can source for other workers from other countries and give their nationals jobs here," he said.
Stating that there are 140,000 Myanmar nationals in the country, Nur Jazlan emphasised that the issue is not just about the 50,000 Rohingyas in the country but the other ethnic groups including the Kachin, Karen and Kokang who have displaced following conflict in their homeland and found their way here.
Migrant workers rights NGO Tenaganita coordinator Aegile Fernandez told theSun that it is wrong for the Myanmar government to penalise their people from working abroad, including Malaysia.
"They should not make any statements, instead, they should stop the killings of the Rohingyas immediately. Once this is done and the government accepts the Rohingyas as the people of Myanmar, only then will the world respect them," she said.