Claim of 10,000 Bangladeshi students given 'graduate pass' in Malaysia not true, says Zambry

A claim that 10,000 Bangladeshi students in Malaysia will be given 'graduate pass' to enable them to work in the country is untrue and baseless, says Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir.

The Higher Education Minister said during the recent visit of Bangladeshi interim government chief adviser Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus, there was no agreement signed that bound Malaysia to accept 10,000 Bangladeshi students to work in the country, reports The Star, Malaysia.

He also advised Kedah industry and investment, higher education, science, technology and innovation committee chairman Dr Haim Hilman Abdullah to be more careful in making any statements on any issue, including those related to higher education.

"Academic principles demand information that has integrity, accuracy and truth,” he said.

He stressed that Haim Hilman should not arbitrarily create perceptions by presenting inaccurate information and misleading people.

"The culture of producing 'content' to be made viral on social media with incorrect facts must be stopped immediately," he said.

Previously, Haim Hilman, through a two-minute and 19-second video uploaded on his TikTok social media site, claimed that 10,000 Bangladeshi students would be given job opportunities in Malaysia.

"Based solely on a newspaper report in Bangladesh, he has made the allegation that I have agreed to consider providing ‘graduate passes’ to 10,000 Bangladeshi students in Malaysia to enable them to work here.

"The allegation is completely untrue and inaccurate,” he said in a statement on Saturday (Aug 23).

Zambry said Haim Hilman’s statement claiming that the people were worried because Malaysia had agreed to this matter was very irresponsible.

"As someone with an academic background, he should have made statements based on true, accurate and authentic facts, not speculation or spreading information carelessly.