Malaysia’s Higher Education Minister Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir has denied claims that 10,000 Bangladeshi students in Malaysia will be granted a ‘graduate pass’ to enable them to work in the country, calling the allegation “untrue and baseless.”

He clarified that during the recent visit of Bangladeshi interim government chief adviser Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus, no agreement was signed that would commit Malaysia to accepting 10,000 Bangladeshi students for employment.

Zambry also urged Kedah industry and investment, higher education, science, technology and innovation committee chairman Dr Haim Hilman Abdullah to exercise greater caution in making public statements, particularly on higher education matters.

“Based solely on a newspaper report in Bangladesh, he has alleged that I 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,” Zambry said in a statement on Saturday (Aug 23).

He described Haim Hilman’s remarks as irresponsible, noting that they had caused unnecessary concern among the public.

“As someone with an academic background, he should have made statements based on true, accurate and authentic facts — not speculation or careless information-sharing. Academic principles demand integrity, accuracy and truth,” he added.

Zambry stressed that creating perceptions through inaccurate information misleads the public.

“The culture of producing ‘content’ with incorrect facts just to go viral on social media must stop immediately,” he said.

Earlier, Haim Hilman, in a two-minute and 19-second TikTok video, claimed that 10,000 Bangladeshi students would be given job opportunities in Malaysia.

Source: The Star, Bernama (Malaysia)