Malaysian Minister for Works Dato Seri Samy Vellu, here for the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, today did a flip-flop on his government’s decision to freeze the recruitment of Indian workers.

Asked about the freeze, Vellu, the only ethnic Indian in the Malaysian cabinet, told The Indian Express that “the decision is not only about workers from India or Bangladesh, there is Pakistan, Sri Lanka... in short, foreign workers.” He denied the freeze was a fallout of the street protests by Malaysia’s ethnic Indians.

But later in the evening, Vellu did a U-turn. “There is no such thing as a ban as reported earlier. I repeat there is no such thing as a ban. I spoke with the Prime Minister as well on this regard.”

Earlier, he had said Malaysia had “enough workers” to meet labour demands. “The government decided it is enough and we don’t want to recruit any more because we have enough workers. Is it wrong?” he asked, adding that the local population too was skilled.

Asked for his comments on the Malaysia move to ban Indian workers, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi told The Indian Express: “We have not come to know about the details to make a comment. However, I am aware of the fact that Malaysia has become stricter with visas. We will definitely look into the issue once we get the details.”

Later, after Vellu’s U-turn, Ravi told reporters “I heard him speak to the Prime Minister. There is no truth in the story. We believe him. As and when more (information) comes, we will talk about it.”

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