SHOCKING SLACKNESS IN SECURITY - Bee Yin raps KLIA, Immigration & Malindo

Yesterday I came back from a short trip to Bali on Malindo Airlines. To my surprise, we, the international passengers, somehow arrived at the domestic arrival hall.

There were two problems. One, all passengers on this flight, both foreigners and Malaysians, could literally walk out of the airport building without having their identity documents checked by immigration officers. In addition to that, all arriving passengers would need to get their passport stamped to register their entry into the country, otherwise they would have problems leaving the country.

Secondly, we needed to collect our baggage from the carousel, which is located at the international arrival area. When asked, many KLIA officers were clueless as to where we should go or do next. We then decided to go back to the gate where we arrived at and were informed that it was a Malindo technical glitch that resulted in the chaos. Malindo staffs had opened the wrong door, which had led to all the passengers using that walkway to the domestic arrivals area. I later found out that a Malindo flight from Jakarta had also experienced the same technical glitch.

I spoke to Dita Yolanda, an experienced Indonesian tour guide leading a group of 28 Indonesian tourists from Jakarta who said it was the first time she had experienced such a scenario. She and her group found their way to the international arrivals exit after 30 minutes of ‘getting lost’ in KLIA.

Liza, who flew in from Jakarta, also said that it was her first time experiencing such circumstances in her many business trips to KL. Liza and her colleague Deska had come to KL yesterday for their regular business meeting.

Malaysian Farah Aris pointed out to me that she saw a French couple, who were on the same flight from Bali, go to the wrong immigration counter - the one leading to the departure gate. She hoped that KLIA management would set up more information counters to give clear information and directions to passengers, particularly tourists, in the event such situations arise. Farah and her family were in Bali for a short holiday after her daughter completed her PMR exams last week.

Abbas and Mia, a couple from KL who just came back from their honeymoon in Bali, hoped that Malindo would improve their operations to prevent a recurrence of such chaotic situations, to ensure that tourists do not have a negative perception of Malaysia as a tourist destination.

Besides painting a bad image of Malaysia among the affected tourists, I am seriously concerned over the slackness in immigration control at KLIA. A mistake made by an inexperienced airline staff (opening the wrong door) could inadvertently allow people to enter Malaysia without having their identities checked and vetted. This sort of security lapse could be exploited by the wrong parties to carry out illegal or unsavoury cross-border activities.

I hope that KLIA management and the immigration department will take immediate steps to employ more stringent security measures and ensure that all arriving passengers into Malaysia via KLIA are processed according to proper immigration procedures.

Yeo Bee Yin is the state assemblywoman for Damansara Utama