ISSUANCE OF VOA TO TOURISTS WON'T BE REVIVED

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- The government Monday decided not to revive the
issuance of visa on arrival (VOA) to foreign tourists at the entry points into
the country, said Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Muhyiddin said the move to revoke the implementation of the VOA was due to the
fact that the facility was being abused previously.

"In the past, we gave flexibility to several nations if their visitors came to
this country, they don't have the visa...(but) the visa could be issued to them
upon arrival at the entry point into Malaysia.

"We notice that this (VOA) was being abused and so on. We agreed that the VOA be
revoked or discontinued," he said.

He said this after chairing the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Foreign
Workers and Illegal Immigrants, here.

In another development, Muhyiddin said the meeting Monday decided that 29 of the
50 recommendations and initiatives submitted to the management of foreigners
laboratory earlier, could be implemented soon.

He said another 19 initiatives needed further study while two were dropped
because they were not appropriate for implementation.

"For the 29 initiatives that had been agreed upon, we will look into the matter.
I have asked every agency and ministry, which are tasked with implementing the
initiatives, to determine the most suitable time for implementation.

"I also asked them to bring back (the report) to the cabinet committee at the
next meeting," he said.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the meeting also agreed that a permanent
secretariat be set up as a mechanism to follow up on the implementation of the
laboratory initiatives of the foreigners management laboratory.

He said 12 officers from the various agencies and ministries would be emplaced
at the secretariat, which was placed under the Home Ministry to monitor the
implementation of all initiatives involving various fields.
-- BERNAMA



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