Malaysia will slash the number of low-skilled migrant labour it allows in the coming years, reports The South China Morning Post, citing the economy ministry. It comes as intolerance grows towards its burgeoning overseas workers amid a job scam crisis across the country’s Bangladeshi labour market. Brought in during the 1980s to jump-start Malaysia’s economic boom, migrant workers were instrumental in the rapid growth of the country’s gleaming skyscrapers and infrastructure projects.

Minister of Economy Rafizi Ramli said Malaysia would set a course for a “drastic and significant reduction” in the number of foreign workers as part of its next five-year plan for 2026 to 2031. It comes as rights groups allege tens of thousands of Bangladeshi migrant workers have been brought in under false pretences and now languish in immigration detention centres, or have been forced into seeking jobs illegally to pay off debts to employment agencies in both Malaysia and Bangladesh who tricked them into emigrating.

Ramli said the National Economic Action Council would start next month to discuss how to wean the country off its addiction to cheap migrant labour. The government has already capped the intake of new migrant workers to a target of 2.55 million, with a deadline of 31 May 31 set as the last day for employers to bring in new workers into the country.