KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10: A workers’ union on Wednesday urged the government to cut the high number of foreign workers at Malaysia’s main airport, saying they posed a security risk and deprived locals of jobs.

The call was made as recruitment agencies supplying foreign maids welcomed a government plan to allow workers into the country from India, Nepal, Laos and Vietnam to fill a shortage caused by low wages and reports of abuse.

The differing views underlined the dilemma over the country’s dependence on foreign workers to perform low-paying jobs that the locals — who have become increasingly prosperous — no longer want to do.

The Malaysia Airlines’ Employee Union said an estimated 1,000 foreigners, mostly from Bangladesh as well as Nepal and Pakistan, are working for the flag carrier at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, including high-risk areas such as baggage, cargo and tarmac sections. Hund reds more are hired by vendors appointed to provide airport services because the foreigners can be paid less, said the union which represents 8,000 staff.

A Bangladeshi worker receives around 200 ringgit ($57) a month, compared to the minimum wage of 631 ringgit ($180) for a local employee, the union’s secretary, Mustafar Maarof, told The Associated Press.

’’We are worried about the high presence of foreign workers at KLIA. .... We are concerned about the safety of passengers, our workers and the aircraft,’’ he said.

Malaysia Airlines operations manager Yusop Jaridi said the carrier has outsourced some aspects of the baggage and ramp services to a local vendor, but stressed security was not compromised.

KLIA general manager Azmi Murad said that the airline and other airport ground handlers were forced to recruit foreigners because domestic workers were unreliable and changed jobs too often.

Malaysia relies heavily on foreigners for menial work and is one of Southeast Asia’s top labour markets, with 2.2 million registered migrant workers out of its 11 million work force. Hundreds of thousands more work illegally in the country.

But several sectors still suffer labour shortages. On Tuesday, the government said it would allow recruitment agencies to bring in maids from India, Nepal, Laos and Vietnam.

Currently, about 95 per cent of foreign maids in the country are from Indonesia, said Raja Zulkepley Dahalan, president of the Malaysian Association of Foreign Housemaids Agencies. But fewer Indonesians want to come because salaries are lower than in other countries, and also because many are scared away by media reports that maids are physically abused by Malaysian employers, he said.—AP