Malaysia will not restrict freedom of movement for foreign workers, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was quoted as saying today.

Abdullah said a controversial bill governing the country's 2.6 million foreign workers needed careful study, the New Straits Times reported.

"If it is going to be beneficial to all parties, including the workers, then there is nothing wrong in implementing it," Abdullah told Malaysian journalists during a visit to Jakarta, the newspaper said.

"But if the intention is to lock them up, it will not be acceptable," he said.

Abdullah's comments came as opposition mounted to proposals to control the movements of foreign workers, mostly construction labourers and plantation workers, to curb a rising crime rate.

Home Affairs Minister Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said Sunday Malaysia would soon introduce a bill proposing that employers "provide proper accommodations at the workplace, where it is properly monitored, where they have systems to ensure that the workers do not go astray".

He said the bill, which could be approved by cabinet next month, would recommend that workers register with their employers if they wished to go out during breaks or days off.

Police, don't interfere

Malaysia's police chief had earlier reportedly suggested confining foreigners to their work premises and putting them under 24-hour surveillance to prevent crime.

Rights groups condemned the proposals and the Star newspaper quoted Abdullah as saying workers' basic rights should not be violated.

"If the employers can provide living quarters that are close to their projects and regulate their movement in and out of those areas, then I do not see why this cannot be done," Abdullah said.

"However, there should not be any interference by the police in regulating the workers' movements as that will go against their basic rights."

Police chief Musa Hassan has said crimes committed by overseas workers escalated to about 5,000 cases last year - about two per cent of 232,620 cases recorded.

Official statistics have shown that criminal incidents overall jumped 45.1 percent in the three years since 2003.

On Thursday, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Tan Chai Ho said Malaysia would ban foreigners with criminal records from working in the country.