Israeli entered using valid French passport, says Saifuddin

KLANG: The Israeli man arrested by the police with six pistols in his possession at a Jalan Ampang hotel entered the country using a valid French passport, says Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

He said that 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, adding that it proved that there were no weakness in enforcement at Malaysia’s entry points as alleged

Saifuddin Nasution said this is because the Immigration Act allows any individual to enter the country if they possessed legal travel documents, and Malaysia did not have any problems with the country issuing the 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 near here on Monday (April 1).

Saifuddin Nasution 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 at the same time clearly showed the importance of amending the Federal Constitution regarding nationality that is being 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 and said that we should let them carry two passports. Now we can see the reasons 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 backgrounds.- Bernama