Stop Grilling China Tourist

The Cabinet has directed the Immigration Department to stop grilling female tourists from China with questions on the purpose of their visits on their arrival.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said female tourists from China aged below 35 were often subjected to lengthy questioning by immigration officers at the airport.

"Immigration officers at the front counter are only responsible for checking passports and to see if the visas are valid or not. Chinese nationals should be allowed entry if their documents are complete as they have the right to visit Malaysia without any conditions," said Nazri, who is the Human Rights Parliamentary Caucus chairman.

Commenting on the case of three female tourists from China who alleged that they were detained by police on Nov 3 and were forced to strip, Nazri said it was clear that there was a violation of their human rights.

"The question of them coming into the country and overstaying is up to the enforcement unit and not the duty of the officers at the front counter."

"The Government welcomes tourists from China and we do not want any restrictions to be placed on them entering the country. Bad publicity involving Chinese nationals had caused a 49 per cent drop in the number of tourists from China lately."

"He said visitors to the country should not be subjected to any sort of profiling."

In response, Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid has come out in defence of Immigration officers. He said it was the immigration officers job to interview arriving tourists, regardless of their home country.

"They are just doing their job. Apart from welcoming tourists into the country, they have to ensure tourists stay within the timeframe stated in their passports or visas," he said. Azmi said statistics compiled by ministry officials revealed that a majority of tourists, especially female Chinese visitors, refused to return home. But he did not give figures or reasons why they refused to go back.

Azmi said it was inappropriate and unfair to blame immigration officers just because one or two of them may have gone overboard. He said immigration officers had to use their discretion to facilitate entry of tourists into the country. He, however, said that pro-active efforts were being taken to address the problem. "Among others, we are now fast-tracking an exercise to recruit immigration officers who are well-versed in Mandarin and other foreign languages. They will be based at all airports. "With them around, tourists will be handled in a more professional and friendly manner. They will feel more at home."

Dear Azmi, do you know what you are talking about? Why not you try station yourself at the airport, or asked your Normala to be there at the airport or go to hawker centers to see the real situation instead of blindly protecting the officers or trying to justify the acts of the delinquents. If your officers are hell of effective, go to the hawker centers, construction sites, car washing centers, and restaurants and find out why there are hundreds of thousands of Burmese, Bangladeshies, Indonesians, and other nationals who have overstayed and many are without valid travel documents.