Abstract. Foreign nationals in Malaysia come from all corners of the world. They are here as migrant labour, highly skilled and professional migrants (expatriates), illegal migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers (Burmese asylum seekers with UNHCR card), forced migrants (human trafficking victims), students, and tourists. The influx of foreign nationals residing in Malaysia coincides with greater number of crime news featuring foreign nationals. This study explores the social construction of foreign nationals as the 'other' in the local crime news published by Malaysian newspapers. 94 news headlines and lead sentences of local crime news involving foreign nationals were identified and analysed for this study. Findings suggest that Malaysian newspapers magnify foreign nationals' migration status in each crime news.

Crime news is considered as the most salient news among Malaysian. For the past 10 years, the relationship between the increasing number of foreign nationals in Malaysia and the increasing crime rate/crime reporting become and issue discussed from the grass root to the members of the Malaysian parliament. This article analyses recent news discourses surrounding foreign nationals in Malaysian crime reporting. Four English language daily newspapers are investigated over the year of 2016 which are The Star, The New Straits Times, The Sun, and The Malay Mail. The paper argues that foreign nationals is the ‘ideal’ other which cause them to be associated to various negativity. Constructing foreign nationals as problematic, deviant, and as ‘the devil’ can be discussed as an act to fit with the hegemonic idea that foreign nationals as a major threat to the public socially, economically, and environmentally. The paper also explores the various issues/stories highlighted in the local crime news involving foreign nationals that draw new landscapes of Malaysian social pattern.