'No weakness in enforcement, Israeli entered using valid French passport'

 

The Israeli man arrested by the police with six pistols in his possession at a hotel in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday entered the country using a valid French passport, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said.

The passport was issued legally by the French embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel and allowed the man to provide authentic travel documents at security checks, he said.

He added that it proved there were no weaknesses in enforcement at Malaysia’s entry points as alleged, as the Immigration Act allows any individual to enter the country if they possess legal travel documents, and Malaysia did not have any problems with the country issuing documents.

“Now there are attempts at spinning the topic, trying to insinuate that our enforcement is lacking, there are loopholes that allow the individual to enter the country.

“In aspects of the system and the Immigration Act, if the travel documents are valid and we have no diplomatic issues with the country issuing the documents, we will allow entry,” he said at a media conference after inspecting Ops Pagar Laut onboard the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) vessel Tun Fatimah in Selangor waters yesterday.

Saifuddin said Malaysian authorities have lists and complete profiles of individuals blacklisted from entering the country and the policy is applied at all entry points into Malaysia.

He stressed that this incident of an individual owning two passports clearly showed the importance of amending the Federal Constitution regarding nationality undertaken by the government, which aims to ensure national security.

"... when I talk about our Constitution not recognising dual citizenship, some human rights activists asked why doesn’t the country allow it now that it’s open… let them carry two passports. Now we can see why the government wants to tighten the Act,” he said.

On concerns voiced by Yousuf Abuassi, a 28-year-old Palestinian who feared for his safety in the country after being contacted by the Israeli six times, Saifuddin said the police guaranteed every individual’s safety in the country regardless of their background.

- Bernama