He made the comments at a press conference on Wednesday following a Cabinet meeting in Putrajaya, Malaysia’s administrative capital.

Fahmi Fadzil said Malaysian Human Resources Minister R Ramanan had informed him that the statement had been made by a Bangladeshi state minister and did not constitute an official position of the Bangladesh government, the Malaysiakini report added.

According to Fahmi Fadzil, he had contacted Human Resources Minister Ramanan about the matter. “He said this is not an official statement from the Bangladesh government,” Fahmi said, adding that, as far as he understood, the remark had been made by a state minister and therefore did not represent the official position of the Bangladesh government.