LABUAN – Sabah and Labuan PKR have appealed to the Home Ministry to review the newly-enforced immigration checks at the Labuan and Menumbok ferry terminals.
They claimed that the immigration checks had slowed down passenger boarding and disembarking process which could reduce the number of mainland Sabah visitors to the duty-free island.
Sabah PKR state leadership council secretary Simsudin Sidek claimed that the immigration checks at the two terminals had caused long queues and inconvenience to travellers, especially senior citizens and parents with small children.
“We hope our newly-appointed Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution will look into this matter seriously and we look forward to discuss this issue with him.
“It is troublesome for travellers having to queue for nearly an hour for the immigration checks. Sabahans in Labuan should be allowed to travel freely in and out of this island,” he said.
The planned drive-thru immigration checks at the Labuan roll-on roll-off ferry, he added, were also not practical due to the terminal’s limited space and narrow road leading towards the ferry.
The Home Ministry on September 10 had directed the Immigration Department to enforce stricter control at the two Labuan ferry terminals, especially for non-Sabahan travellers bound for the mainland across the island.
Its former minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said stricter control was needed to ensure there would be no free flow of travellers from the ferry terminals’ main gates to mainland Sabah via Tanjung Pagar, Sipitang, Menumbok and Jesselton jetties.
The stricter immigration checks at the terminals were at the request of the Sabah government, as there had been abuses with the terminals’ free flow policy, which had resulted in entry into Sabah being out of control, he added. – Bernama, December 4, 2022
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