SOCIAL activist and lawyer Charles Hector has questioned why foreign travellers who are issued with “Not To Land” (NTL) notices have to expend money to return to their homeland when this could be done at the point of departure itself.
More puzzling, according to Hector, is the fact that a third party has been appointed to handle travellers who suddenly were not permitted to enter Malaysia
For the record, airport operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has clarified that the independent company tasked with handling NTL passengers at the airport was appointed by the KLIA Airline Operators Committee (AOC), a committee of 40 airline operators at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and 26 associates.
“So, the appointment was agreed and endorsed by the immigration department, hence raising the question if there is a specific law that deals with these cases, including the charges that could be imposed?” asked Hector in his recent blog.
“Why the vetting can’t be done at the point of departure itself, hence preventing them (travellers) from boarding the plane to come to Malaysia. After all, that was done during the COVID-19 pandemic period whereby nobody was allowed to board the plane unless they had proven that they had satisfied conditions to visit Malaysia.”
Taking the matter a little further, Hector wanted to know what actually constituted a “denial of entry to Malaysia”.
“Was it because they (the travellers) did not have a return ticket or because they did not have an address to stay while in Malaysia? What is the reason? If they are already blacklisted, logically they should not be allowed to even board a plane to KLIA,” suggested co-founder of the Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (MADPET) movement.
Hector also hit out at Prime Minister (PM) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s recent surprise visit to the KLIA which “showed his own incompetency as Finance Minister when he discovered six of the seven luggage scanners at KLIA were not working”.
“As Finance Minister responsible for Customs Department, he must be top of things. So, will action be taken against the Custom Officers for not keeping him informed?” wondered Hector.
“Does Anwar even know that the two Aerotrains in KLIA are also not working? He is PM and he chose his Cabinet members … and he must be fully aware of the ministries/departments under his direct jurisdictions.”
Added Hector: “Is this a sign of incompetency that after only seven to eight months later that he became aware (of the various malfunctions of airport facilities)?” – July 7, 2023
