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By B. Suresh Ram

KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Resources Ministry will present to the cabinet another proposal allowing the 90,000-odd refugees in the country to work. Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said he had put up a case to the cabinet some time ago, but no decision was taken then.

He said he believed it would be a good move now to employ the refugees.

"I will bring it up again and see what we can do," he told the New Straits Times.

"Personally, I would like them (refugees) to work. They have to survive. Obviously (while here) they are working ... to survive and eat. So, might as well legalise it and regulate it. That is a better thing."

Subramaniam said utilising refugees as a workforce while they waited to be resettled elsewhere would also prove beneficial to the country's economic well-being.

He was asked to respond to a call by the Malaysian Trades Union Congress, which wanted the government to allow refugees to work in labour-strapped organisations instead of the country importing foreign workers.

MTUC secretary-general G. Rajasegaran had said the thousands of refugees now in the country could be easily absorbed as workers in various industries.

By doing so, the government would not only be able to save millions of ringgit in sustaining these refugees, but would also gain recognition for being a humane country, he said.

Rajasegaran was commenting on the recent announcement that 100,000 new visas were approved for foreign workers in the last three months.

Latest figures revealed by Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein showed there were 1.2 million legal foreign workers in Malaysia. There are believed to be an equal number of illegal or undocumented workers.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Malaysia hosts some 90,000 refugees.