“When the economy’s expanding, this does not cause a crisis between various groups in the country. But this year’s going to be a very topsy turvy year and it’s going to put a stress on the Malaysian family,” he said.

“I think we’re going to see a backlash between local Malaysians and migrant workers.”

Parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang also sounded caution over the way the crackdown is being carried out, noting that past campaigns were disastrous and ineffective.

“The economy practically halts each time there is a crackdown as the country is over dependent on foreign labor.

And the number of foreign workers, more often than not, increases after the crackdown,” he told AFP.

Khoo Kay Peng from Malaysia’s think tank the Sedar Institute said the campaign was sending the wrong message about the nation.

“What Malaysia should be telling the world is that we’re an open economy, we encourage talent to come here to work — and that at the same time we need to specify the kind of help we need.”

“We must not appear to be inward-looking and introverted.”

Malaysia is also smarting at accusations that foreigners are all too often abused, unpaid and treated inhumanely, and that those responsible are not punished.

Indonesia has some 1.1 million citizens working here and protests over their treatment break out frequently in Jakarta — most recently over the case of Nirmala Bonat, a young maid who was severely burned and bashed by her employer.

The issue dominated a visit by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono this month, during which he called for justice for those who had been abused.

Bangladesh has some 300,000 citizens working here, but a ban was imposed in October after a series of cases of poor treatment including one when employers abandoned 2,000 workers at Kuala Lumpur’s airport.

There was also a furor in India this month when several Malaysian officials said the cabinet had decided to impose a similar freeze, forcing the government to strenuously deny it had any such plans.

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