THE decision to freeze the quota of hiring foreign workers including for next year still stands, and the cabinet has not made a new ruling on the matter, Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar said.

He said based on the 12th Malaysia Plan, the number of foreign workers should not exceed the projection of 2.4 million individuals until 2025, but the latest number had reached that threshold.

Sivakumar said the number of foreign workers comprised the number of those already present, as well as the increase from the workforce recalibration programme and the foreign worker employment relaxation programme.

“As of (the decision) of the last cabinet meeting, we will not open the granting of new quotas for a while. But if there’s a new decision, we will inform accordingly.

“For next year we don’t know yet (quota for hiring foreign workers) we have to look at it in various contexts. We have stopped the intake (of foreign workers) and we will review the need to hire foreigners in the future,” he said at a press conference after attending the HR Leaders Networking Luncheon in Kuala Lumpur today.

It was previously reported that the 2.7 million foreign workers in the country had already exceeded the Malaysian population of Indian descent, which was about two million people. – Bernama, December 7, 2023.