Expired travel documents: Home Ministry in talks with Thai gov't - Siti Zailah

PASIR MAS, June 1 (Bernama) -- The Home Ministry (KDN) is in talks with the Thai government to facilitate the affairs of Malaysians who are stranded in that country after their travel documents expired, according to Rantau Panjang Member of Parliament, Datuk Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff.

She said according to information obtained thus far, the individual with an expired travel document was fined up to RM2,500.

She said apart from that, the holders of travel documents are also at risk of being blacklisted for three years by Thai law, thus causing the community to be burdened, especially those from the low-income group (B40).

“I have received many complaints from Malaysians regarding travel documents that have expired during the previous Movement Control Order (MCO) that could not be stamped and so on. We have also conveyed this information to the authorities (KDN) and it is in the process of negotiations.

“This matter (fines and blacklist) we cannot change unless it is approved by the Thai government. So we hope the KDN will try to simplify this matter, as well as to assist them because some only work as labourers and so on,” she said.

She said this to reporters after inspecting the first day of permission for private vehicles to pass through the Malaysia-Thailand border at the Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security Complex (ICQS), Rantau Panjang, here today.

Commenting on the reopening of the border on the first day, Siti Zailah, who is also the Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, said that it could help revive the economies of both countries.

She said that it could also restore family ties between Malaysians and Thais as well as that the neighbouring country was also a strategic trading partner to the country.

“The results of my observation today found that the community has begun to take the opportunity in conjunction with this opening to go to Thailand and vice versa. I would also like to thank the Thai government for giving leeway to the vehicles of our people who are stuck and stranded there.

“I was informed that on a normal day, vehicles stranded in Thailand would be charged a fee of RM140 per day for each vehicle, and the maximum fee charged can reach up to RM1,400 per day,” she said.

She also hoped that the people in the country could seize the opportunity given by the Thai government to bring home vehicles stranded there without any fees, from today until June 30.

--BERNAMA