Long waits at KLIA immigration persist day after minister's rebuke

The perennial issue of long lines at Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s immigration counters seems to persist despite Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing calling for a faster process.

An overseas traveller, who only wanted to be identified as TH, told Malaysiakini that he had to wait for over an hour at the immigration checkpoint today after travelling from Jakarta, Indonesia.

“I landed here at 3.30pm. The queue (at immigration) took about an hour,” he said.

TH added that he had only passed the immigration checkpoint around 4.55pm.

He said KLIA’s aerotrain, which is used for travelling between airport checkpoints, was not in operation, causing further frustration.

“How can the country expect to have more tourists when you cannot accommodate them the moment they arrive?

“What's the use of building/developing the world's tallest building in the world, when your main objective is to impress, but you can't even provide an efficient smooth travelling experience for the tourists the moment they arrive?” TH lamented.

Videos sent by TH to Malaysiakini depicted hundreds of travellers waiting in line at the immigration counter.

Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing

Lack of manpower

Yesterday, Tiong hit out at the Immigration Department for slow checking procedures at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) for incoming travellers.

The minister himself had witnessed the immigration clearance process at KLIA after receiving complaints.

Tiong deduced that lack of manpower led to the issue, calling on the Home Ministry to resolve the woes.

“I found that queues toward the immigration counters are still unacceptably long with arrivals being kept in line for two hours or more.

“The problem of insufficient manpower stationed at entry points in international airports is not a new one and has been criticised at various times.

“If Malaysia is to welcome back international tourists as a competitive destination of choice, it must urgently resolve this issue of insufficient staff at immigration and customs checkpoints.

“Tourists and other international arrivals being made to wait for as long as two hours should not be accepted any further by anyone,” he said in a statement.

Tiong added that the current design of immigration checkpoints, which takes an average of two to three minutes for each immigration clearance, was “outmoded” and “outdated”.

“An average of two to three minutes to complete the immigration clearance is considered grossly inefficient compared to the 30 seconds required by other advanced clearance systems,” he said.

However, the minister noted that additional staff will not solve the issue of long waiting times in the long term, due to a gradual uptake in tourists as flights to Malaysia increase.

Thus, he said, the Immigration Department and the Home Ministry would have to promote officers with knowledge of procedures to the right posts.

Tiong also called for the facial recognition system to be extended to all international visitors and not only those with long-term passes.

He said authorities should consider placing staff who are proficient in multiple languages at immigration counters.

This is because not all foreign tourists may be proficient in English which may lead to slow clearances or unnecessary misunderstandings, he said. - Mkini