KLIA incident: Govt to make several changes at entry points

Following a recent ruckus at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport that saw a cabinet minister alleging immigration officers of being corrupt, the cabinet earlier today agreed to introduce several changes at the country's entry points.

According to Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, the decision on whether an incoming traveller should be denied entry will now be made by senior Immigration Department officers of Grade 41 and above.

Previously, the power to make such decisions was held by Grade 29 officers stationed at airports and other entry points.

Saifuddin said the cabinet also gave its nod to the ministry's suggestion to set up a help desk at entry points, where multilingual officers will be stationed to assist travellers who face difficulty communicating with authorities.

"During the cabinet meeting earlier today, I have presented several suggestions for us moving forward. First, we will set up a help desk that will be manned by officers who can communicate in other languages such as Mandarin, English, Arabic and Tamil.

"This will be done soon, aimed at helping travellers when they arrive at (immigration) counters and find it difficult to communicate," he told reporters during a press conference in Putrajaya.

Saifuddin said it is a standard procedure by immigration authorities around the world to ask if incoming travellers have a return ticket, the address for their stay in the country, and whether they are bringing enough cash.

This, according to the minister, is so that the authority can prevent travellers on social visits pass abusing their stay to work in the country.

However, he added, the government had overlooked the need to properly inform travellers about the requirements for when they arrive in Malaysia.

"Thus, we are ready to work with Malaysia Airports to put up many signages, so that (travellers) will know what questions will be asked by authorities.

"And should the answers they give are not to the authority's satisfaction, the Immigration Department has decided that officers who are at the professional management level should be given the authority to issue a ‘Not to Land’ (NTL) notice.

"Meaning, the authority will be given to officers of Grade 41 and above," he said.

Transport Ministry to cooperate

Saifuddin said the cabinet has also ordered the Transport Ministry to review the process of managing travellers who are barred from entering by immigration.

According to him, currently, the system puts a company in charge of managing travellers issued NTL by the authority, which includes booking their return ticket and also handling their needs prior to their flight out.

The company, Monocircle, was appointed by aircraft operator companies to handle the matter in February 2015.

"The cabinet has asked the Transport Ministry to look into this aspect. Confusion might arise because when travellers are turned away, they would be asked by this company to pay an amount for their return flight.

"This might be misconstrued as immigration officers asking them for money. But, I do not deny that sometimes certain irresponsible officers may be involved in corrupt practices," he said.

When asked if this was what happened in the incident at KLIA last week, Saifuddin said he was speaking generally and would not comment on the case as it is under MACC investigation.

Last Thursday, BebasNews reported that a minister allegedly broke safety protocols and barged past immigration counters to "rescue" a tourist under detention.

Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing later admitted he was the one implicated in the report but said his "rescue" of the woman exposed corruption among officials in KLIA and that the Chinese national was not the first to receive such treatment when arriving in Malaysia.

He claimed some immigration officers would demand bribes of up to RM3,000 from detained tourists for them to be released and sent back to their home countries.

The minister then urged MACC to investigate the matter, adding that he would provide the necessary information to the graft buster.

Following this, MACC launched a probe into the matter, for which they have also summoned Tiong and the traveller from China to give their statements, among others.

MACC sources recently told Malaysiakini that the anti-graft agency has found no breach of procedures by immigration officers involved, saying that there were valid grounds for them to turn away the tourist.

However, they are looking for an "agent" who allegedly tried to solicit bribes from the tourist and her Malaysian acquaintance.

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