It was an isolated case, says Zahid

government that the incident was an isolated case.

He added that Malaysia was committed to continuing its cooperation with Indonesia.

“They need to send their manpower to other countries, including Malaysia, while we need the manpower,” he said.

On a separate issue, Ahmad Zahid said the government is considering the best course of action on 11 Uighur men who were arrested by Malaysian authorities after escaping from an Immigration detention centre in Thailand.

“We will conduct further negotiations that will touch on the issue of diplomacy and security of the concerned countries.”

Ahmad Zahid had previously confirmed that China had officially requested Malaysia to repatriate the Uighurs.

Ethnic Uighurs are a minority in China who are concentrated in the autonomous Xinjiang region.

At another event in Putrajaya, Ahmad Zahid said tourist arrivals suffered a 3% drop last year compared to 2016 due to fewer tourists from Asean.

“Despite the drop, a total 25,948,459 tourists visited Malaysia in 2017. Malaysia continues to dominate the Asean market for tourist arrivals, with a 75.1% share in the region,” he said in a statement after chairing the Tourism Cabinet Committee meeting.

He added that the tourism industry was among the main contributors to the country’s gross domestic product amounting to 14.8%, or RM182.4 billion.