Manmohan Singh with Malaysian works minister S. Samy Vellu in New Delhi on Wednesday. (PTI)

Jan. 9: India has asked Malaysia for an arrangement to secure the interests of its workers in that country in exchange for a similar guarantee to Malaysian workers here.

The disclosure coincided with a clarification by Malaysia that it had not banned workers from India, defusing a potential diplomatic row with its third largest labour supplier. But the country said it had adopted a more “stringent” policy on recruitment of foreigners.

Defence minister A.K. Antony, who returned from a weekend tour of Malaysia, said today the quid-pro-quo arrangement on workers’ welfare figured in his discussions with the Malaysian foreign affairs minister.

“I told him that we should expedite a memorandum of understanding on employment and welfare of Malaysians working here and Indians working there,” Antony said. “He promised it will be hastened.”

Antony said there was no suggestion during his visit that the Malaysian government was considering a ban on recruitment of Indian workers.

“No one raised it during my meetings with the Prime Minister, deputy Prime Minister and foreign minister. We had cordial and useful talks. It was a successful visit,” Antony said.

But in Kuala Lumpur, a minister suggested that Malaysia is tightening the screws. “We have more than 2 million foreign workers, so we have to take action,” home affairs minister Radzi Sheikh Ahmad told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.

“We are trying to reduce the number of foreign workers in Malaysia... but at the same time, we have to make sure our industries do not suffer. We have to strike a balance,” he said.

Ahmad, however, confirmed that his ministry “never came out with any ruling” that “intake” of workers from India had been “stopped”. “I do not know where the reports came from. This has disturbed us a lot.”

Ahmad denied that Indian temple priests were being prevented from coming to Malaysia but said applicants had to go through more stringent checks. There are already 5,500 Indian priests, sculptors and temple musicians working in Malaysia, some whom had stayed for 10 years, he said.

In Delhi, overseas affairs minister Vayalar Ravi said the Malaysian government had denied issuing any circular banning recruitment of Indians and clarified there was no such move.

“The Malaysian home ministry held a media conference in Kuala Lumpur today and denied any such move. This information was given to me by the Indian high commission in Kuala Lumpur,” he said.

Malaysian home ministry officials had told foreign news agency reporters on Tuesday that the country had stopped recruiting Indian workers.

The officials read out the order to reporters over the phone and said the ban was apparently linked to recent unrest among Malaysia’s minority ethnic Indians, who are demanding racial equality in the Muslim-majority country.

The reports could be the result of confusion over Malaysia’s move in October to temporarily freeze the hiring of Bangladeshis, Ahmad said.