Malaysian Civil Serrvants always have good explanations!

December 13, 2009

14 held for leaving M’sia illegally

By MOHD FARHAAN SHAH

JOHOR BARU: Thirteen Malay­­­-sians and a Singaporean were detained recently for leaving the country illegally through the Customs, Immi­gration and Quarantine Complex (CIQ).

However, those detained, which included two women, claimed they rode past the immigration booth for motorcyclists on their way to work on Thursday but it was unmanned and the barrier gate was up.

During her detention, one of the women pillion riders, who was five-weeks pregnant with her first child, had a miscarriage.

Yesterday, husband Evaraj Subramaniam, 23, said he and his wife, Indra Arumugam, 23, were travelling to Singapore on their motorcycle as usual when they were stopped at the end of the motorcycle lane at 6.30am.

Evaraj, a site supervisor, said the officer asked why did they not scan their passports and when they explained there was no one at the counter and the barrier gate was open, the officer replied they were at fault for not stopping.

He said they were then detained and taken to the CIQ holding centre.

Evaraj said the men and women were then separated and taken to different cells there.

“At around 5pm, Indra was taken to the hospital for a medical check-up and then taken to the Pekan Nenas detention centre,” he said, adding that an immigration officer contacted him at 5.30pm to say “bini awak tak mengandung (your wife is not pregnant).

“I was released the next day after posting police bail but I’m now worried for Indra’s health and safety as she is still at the centre.”

Evaraj was speaking to reporters during a press conference organised by Skudai assemblyman Dr Boo Cheng Hau here yesterday. All the Malaysians who had been detained were present.

Ong Yan Hui, 32, who works as a clerk in Singapore, said the incident was a “huge embarrassment.”

Ong, who shared the same cell as Indra, said she told the immigration officer that Indra was in pain but no one attended to her.

Engineer Gary Nagenchandra, 32, also said it was not the first time the barrier was up and the booth unmanned.

“Sometimes when we ride past, the officers will not even look at our passports, let alone scan them. Some of them will be reading the newspaper or even smoking.”

He too said he explained the booth was unmanned but the officer said he should have stopped anyway.

Dr Boo urged the immigration department to investigate the case.

State immigration director Nasri Ishak could not be contacted for comment.