PUTRAJAYA: Foreign tourists are required to fill in the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card (MDAC) three days before arrival starting Dec 1, but for now, they are given the flexibility to do so at the country’s entry checkpoints, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail (pix).
“This (relaxation) is to allow adapting to the new requirement,“ he said that MDAC is part of the primary initiative to improve immigration facilities following the implementation of the Visa Liberalization Plan (PLV) which exempts tourists from China and India from visa for 30 days starting Dec 1.
He said the implementation of MDAC was taken as the Ministry of Home Affairs (KDN) would not compromise with national security with the implementation of visa liberalization aimed at boosting economic growth specifically in the tourism sector.
“When we impose liberalization measures, we know what kind of pass they enter, and we want them to fill in a digital card as a prerequisite, which is to enable us to track their whereabouts,“ he told the media after the KDN Madani One Year Celebration and the KDN monthly assembly, here today .
On Dec 1, Immigration Department director-general, Datuk Ruslin Jusoh was reported to have said that the flexibility to fill the digital arrival card was granted until Dec 7 2023.
Meanwhile, Saifuddin Nasution said the current five-year validity period of Malaysian passports stays, but KDN will evaluate the proposal of Immigration Services Union of Peninsular Malaysia (KPISM) to extend the validity period of passport to 10 years based on the best practices of other countries.
“Half of the countries have a policy of issuing passports valid for 10 years. For now it is the status quo. We will continue to examine the appropriateness and need of the proposal,“ he said.
Regarding the spread on social media of the claim that a Malaysian was insulted when renewing his passport at UTC Johor because he was not fluent in Malay given that he had studied in Singapore since he was a child, Saifuddin Nasution said it may have happened because of suspicion.
He said it is enshrined in the Constitution that Malay is the official language and other languages are free to learn and use, but the duty of a citizen to master the Malay language cannot be compromised.
“I hope that the concerned parents can understand that it is the duty of a citizen to learn and master the language well and there is no need to make it an issue to describe the government department complicating matters to renew travel documents just because of language requirements,“ he said.
Asked about the need for control at the entry points following concerns about an increase in Cscases, Saifuddin Nasution said that before the related policy is announced, it should be guided by the Ministry of Health.
“We (KDN) have not received any recent warnings or precautionary measures from the Ministry of Health. Until that happens, the visa liberalization programme will proceed as planned,“ he said.
Commenting on PAS’s victory in the Kemaman by-election last Saturday, Saifuddin Nasution, who is also PKR secretary-general, said it did not give any indication that the people rejected the Unity Government.
The parliamentary seat was originally held by a PAS representative before his victory was annulled and then returned to Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar.
“Who used to win the Kemaman area, PAS? Just recently who won... PAS. So it has no added value. So because of that it did not signal anything. If it used to be Barisan Nasional (BN) ) who won, and now PN won so that’s a reduction of one seat, that’s significant,“ he said.
Ahmad Samsuri won the Kemaman Parliamentary by-election with a majority of 37,220 after obtaining 64,998 votes defeating BN candidate Gen (R) Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor who received 27,778 votes. -Bernama
