Immigration man tells why Chinese national denied entry, recalls minister's threats to officer

An immigration officer has shed more light on a recent incident involving Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing, saying he had threatened to demote an officer at KLIA for denying entry to a Chinese national who did not fulfil visa requirements.

Syahmi Syafie Md Nazmil, in a police report, also rejected Tiong's allegations of rampant bribery at the airport, saying the traveller, a Chinese woman named Wang Xue, not only failed to present a return ticket as required of foreigners entering the country, but could not answer questions on her accomodation arrangements while in Malaysia.

Syahmi, in his police report, said that due to a communication problem, Wang Xue had answered questions through an interpreter on the phone, whom Syahmi identified as Emma.

Emma said the woman had travelled to Malaysia to take care of her child.

Despite this, Syahmi said Tiong refused to allow the immigration officer an opportunity to explain, and instead accused him of demanding a RM3,000 bribe.

"He also berated senior officers and the supervisor who refused entry to the subject and said 'you are the culprit', as well as made a baseless accusation that the officer asked for RM3,000 through an agent to release the subject into Malaysia," Astro Awani quoted Syahmi as saying in his police report.

He added that Tiong even threatened to demote the officer and uttered "words that insulted the officer in front of other officers as well as members of the public who were in the office at that time".

Syahmi said the entry restriction on the woman was removed following Tiong's intervention, adding that any instructions to revoke an entry denial could only come from the immigration director-general.