Blight that can no longer be denied

Based on the cases exposed over the decades, the ingrained corruption is too obvious to be attributed to a small group in the Immigration Department.

FIFTEEN were sacked, 14 suspended and 63 others were transferred out of KLIA.

These were Immigration officers who deliberately disabled the passenger screening system, allowing questionable people to enter the country undetected.

No, this is not breaking news but a blast from the past – from June 2016.

The people and methods may have changed, but corruption involving the Immigration Department is a recurring nightmare.

Who knows how many terrorists, human traffickers and other such people slipped into the country during the frequent “breakdowns” of the system seven years ago.

In May the same year, police arrested 19 people who were part of a human trafficking racket that sent migrants to Switzerland for as much as RM60,000 per head. Among those nabbed were two Immigration officers.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who conducted a spot check on Customs and Immigration operations at KLIA on Sunday, tried to play down the issue by saying that the crooks comprised a “small group”.

But based on the number of cases over the decades, it is hard to deny the ingrained “culture of corruption” in the department highlighted by Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.

The PM and the Home Ministry headed by Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail should stop being in denial of the problem and get it fixed.

Last month, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) exposed the story of a 31-year-old Immigration clerk who owned a Rolls-Royce Phantom worth RM6mil, along with a Ford Mustang, Range Rover and an Audi. The cars were registered under four foreign worker agents, including two Chinese nationals.

The clerk was in the KP19 grade, where the salary range is from RM1,360 to a maximum of RM4,052.

He was part of a racket involving 50 people, including 28 immigration officers, nabbed in Selangor and Johor in 2020.

Since 2021, 136 Immigration officers have been arrested and out of these, 112 faced action for misconduct and 24 were jailed.

In the latest allegation against the department, Tiong said he had to personally step in to help an employee of a Chinese government-owned TV station after she was detained by Immigration officers at KLIA upon arrival from Shenzhen on Thursday.

She was apparently put on the Not to Land (NTL) list, despite not having any record of crimes or offences.

The woman, a personal assistant to a government official who was allowed entry, said she was held for 15 hours before she was contacted by an “agent” who asked her to pay RM3,000 to be released.

The officers allegedly asked for another RM3,000 if she wanted to go back to her country of origin immediately and RM12,000 for visa processing to enter Malaysia.

Those in the inbound tour industry are well aware of a “special Lane” used to smoothen the processing, based on the experiences of visitors who had to pay to avoid the hassles and hard time while detained for questioning.

They also know that even people on the NTL list can go through the lane if they pay up, with amounts varying between RM3,000 and RM4,000.

According to Tiong, the woman’s boss contacted the Malaysian Consul’s office in Guangzhou and an employee of the consulate related what had happened to her.

The Bintulu MP, who used to be Malaysia’s Special Ambassador to China, said he called the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and went to KLIA together with the agency’s officers and auxiliary policemen. He said the woman was allowed entry after he spoke to the officers on duty, adding that it was the fifth such case in which he had to intervene.

The MACC has begun investigations and the police are also probing the incident after a report was lodged against the minister for barging into the arrival hall without a security pass.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke has since clarified that ministers had security passes to enter restricted areas in KLIA.

Like all incidents in Malaysia, this episode has also taken on a racial twist and political spin. It began with a local news portal linked to a coalition claiming that the minister tried to “rescue” a Chinese national at KLIA, causing a commotion there.

Among the first to chide Tiong was Umno Youth chief Muhamad Akmal Saleh. He accused the minister of abusing his powers and demanded that his citizenship be stripped.

The Peninsular Malaysia Immigration Services Union also slammed Tiong, claiming it was an attempt to create a diversion from more important issues, and describing it as “baseless and lacking in evidence”.

The political capitalisation has become clearer over the past few days, with viral social media postings implying that a “Chinese Minister” (Read: DAP) was abusing his powers against Malay civil servants who were diligently doing their duty.

(Tiong is president of the Progressive Democratic Party who won his sixth term as MP under Gabungan Parti Sarawak, a key component of the current unity government.)

Arguably, the post that has gone the most viral is one with the heading: “Siapa Wanita Warga Cina Yang Menteri Selamatkan di KLIA? (Who is the woman from China rescued by the minister at KLIA?)

Among the questions asked were: Who is the mysterious woman? Why is she so special that she does not need to undergo screening? Is she a sibling, relative or girlfriend/mistress of the minister?

The post accused Tiong of breaching the country’s security protocols and interfering with the duties of civil servants, adding that this was proof that Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional ministers do not respect the laws.

It also claimed that the more than 1.2 million Chinese nationals who entered Malaysia between 2018 and 2021 were working as restaurant helpers, pole dancers in nightclubs, prostitutes and mistresses, with some living on oil palm and rubber plantations.

For added dramatic effect, the post carried a photo of a police raid on a brothel, featuring three women with their faces covered.

Media consultant M. Veera Pandiyan likes this quote by Ayn Rand: “When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice, you may know that your society is doomed.” The views expressed here are the writer’s own.