Visa to Malaysia

Visa to Malaysia

At the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta, there is a dedicated
counter to handle visa applications for nationals from India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal; in essence, the citizens of the
Indian subcontinent.

My wife's cousin from Bangalore, India and two of her friends
recently visited us in Jakarta. They wished to stop over in
Johore, Malaysia on their return trip from Indonesia to India. In
this context, they called the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta and
inquired on how they could obtain a tourist visa for a few days.
The Embassy advised that they could not provide a visa but a 72
hour entry permit could be considered. This suited their purposes
and they visited the embassy the next morning. After spending
about a half-hour filling up the requisite application forms,
they took them to the counter, The staff in attendance at that
time, summarily dismissed their application stating that they did
not have a confirmed air ticket out of Malaysia. No amount of
explanation to the effect, that they just wished to cross the
causeway by public transport and return by Singapore to Bombay,
would convince the counter staff otherwise.

What is the need for an air ticket out of Malaysia, when all
they wished was to visit a relation in Johore Bahru and its
immediate environs. The reason for the rejection of their
application was quite clear; they happened to be Indian nationals
and that in the eyes of Malaysian authorities, was adequate
grounds for rejection.

It is indeed a sorry state of affairs that in these days of
globalization and more significantly during "Visit Malaysia
Year", that such summary dismissals based on nationality are
allowed to occur. When my wife's cousin pleaded for reason, the
counter staff person just stated that "Visit Malaysia Year"
applied to nationals from other countries.

As one who has lived and studied in Malaysia in the 1960's my
fond memories of that country are soured by this type of
experience. I do hope that there can be some effort to at least
be judicious and discrete on how visa applications for the
nationals of the sub-continent are handled and that this high
handed episode is not routine practice.

P. NAIR

Jakarta