Who should be blamed for the Canadian government's decision to impose visa requirement for Malaysians? The Canadian government or the Malaysian government?

According to Canadian High Commissioner to Malaysia Jean McClosky, the visa requirement is not only applicable to Muslim-predominated Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, but also to European countries like Poland, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Rumania and Russia which are predominantly Christian (Catholics, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox).

However, the requirement is not applicable to another Muslim country, Brunei ( The Star , Sept 27, page 4).

It is clear that the decision is not based on race and religion. It is based on genuine national security of Canadians. It is the right of the Canadian government to decide whether or not to give permits to aliens to enter its sovereign territory. It is also the duty and responsibility of the Canadian government to safeguard the security of Canadians.

Malaysians should blame the home minister who has not done his work properly in ensuring that Malaysian passports, identity cards and travel documents are respected and honoured because of low security quality.

Since corruption and abuse of powers are rampant in Malaysian bureaucracy, Malaysian passports, identity cards and travel documents can be purchased. Otherwise, how do we explain the massive problems of illegal migrants in Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia?

No wonder Canada and the United States do not trust the Malaysian authorities anymore. Unless and until the domestic messes are cleaned up, we can expect more of such problems to come, and Malaysia will become another Burma or North Korea.