National Professors' Council secretary Raduan Che Rose has lamented that the laziness of Malaysians is helping to turn migrant workers into "towkays" in the country.

"We are lazy, our people don't make use of the opportunities. We complain that we do not get opportunities but why can they (migrant workers) get opportunities?

"They find for jobs at first, for example in construction. At first they are workers but eventually they become towkays," Raduan (right)  told a press conference in conjunction with the council's conference on migrant workers in Kuala Lumpur today.

He added that even locals these days would engage migrant workers for building houses, even though the practice is illegal.

Raduan then joked with journalists that perhaps they too would be replaced one day.

"Maybe tomorrow, other people (migrant workers) too will take up jobs as journalists," he said.

Raduan admitted that the country needed a large workforce, but said measures should not go overboard.

"Even though we need a large workforce, we should focus only on the ones we really need. Not up to the extent that they (migrant workers) take over economic opportunities in this country," he said.

Raduan used the example of migrant workers being farmers in Cameron Highlands, which he described as "strange".

"Even the night markets and shops are controlled by them. This does not happen in any other country," he said.

He said to date, the exact number of migrant workers remained unclear as there were many in the country without legal documents.