Visa to Malaysia<\/p>\n
At the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta, there is a dedicated
\ncounter to handle visa applications for nationals from India,
\nPakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal; in essence, the citizens of the
\nIndian subcontinent.<\/p>\n
My wife's cousin from Bangalore, India and two of her friends
\nrecently visited us in Jakarta. They wished to stop over in
\nJohore, Malaysia on their return trip from Indonesia to India. In
\nthis context, they called the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta and
\ninquired on how they could obtain a tourist visa for a few days.
\nThe Embassy advised that they could not provide a visa but a 72
\nhour entry permit could be considered. This suited their purposes
\nand they visited the embassy the next morning. After spending
\nabout a half-hour filling up the requisite application forms,
\nthey took them to the counter, The staff in attendance at that
\ntime, summarily dismissed their application stating that they did
\nnot have a confirmed air ticket out of Malaysia. No amount of
\nexplanation to the effect, that they just wished to cross the
\ncauseway by public transport and return by Singapore to Bombay,
\nwould convince the counter staff otherwise.<\/p>\n
What is the need for an air ticket out of Malaysia, when all
\nthey wished was to visit a relation in Johore Bahru and its
\nimmediate environs. The reason for the rejection of their
\napplication was quite clear; they happened to be Indian nationals
\nand that in the eyes of Malaysian authorities, was adequate
\ngrounds for rejection.<\/p>\n
It is indeed a sorry state of affairs that in these days of
\nglobalization and more significantly during \"Visit Malaysia
\nYear\", that such summary dismissals based on nationality are
\nallowed to occur. When my wife's cousin pleaded for reason, the
\ncounter staff person just stated that \"Visit Malaysia Year\"
\napplied to nationals from other countries.<\/p>\n
As one who has lived and studied in Malaysia in the 1960's my
\nfond memories of that country are soured by this type of
\nexperience. I do hope that there can be some effort to at least
\nbe judicious and discrete on how visa applications for the
\nnationals of the sub-continent are handled and that this high
\nhanded episode is not routine practice.<\/p>\n
P. NAIR<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/visa-to-malaysia-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }