No room for discretion in immigration control

AT a dinner party recently, a friend introduced a new acquaintance to our group. As is the norm in social engagements, a handful of topics soon began to be discussed in between the courses. One topic that really caught everyone’s attention was border control.

Our new English acquaintance revealed that in his two years of living in Kuala Lumpur, he has not once bothered to apply for a work permit. Apparently, all one needs to do is to simply take a quarterly trip outside KL for a few days (or in his case a fix on his tan on the beach of Koh Samui) and get one’s passport stamped with a renewed 90-day social visit pass upon one’s return.