KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 11 -- Malaysian binational families have pushed back against a deputy minister's claim that foreigners marry locals to run businesses, stressing that their marriages are rooted in family life, not profit-making.

Family Frontiers, an advocacy group for Malaysian binational families' rights, was responding to Deputy Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Fuziah Salleh, who told the Dewan Negara last week that marrying Malaysians was a "modus operandi" for foreigners to operate businesses legally.

The group said non-citizen spouses already face major barriers to employment due to immigration rules.

"In our current reality, the struggle to earn a living as a spouse is significant due to restrictive regulations...