Sunday July 13, 2008
Rais to present Malaysia’s case in London
By PAUL GABRIEL
KUALA LUMPUR: The arduous task of convincing Britain that Malaysia should retain its visa-exempt status will gain momentum with Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim meeting senior British officials in London on Tuesday.
The minister will have to use all his diplomatic skills when he presents Malaysia’s case to Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister Meg Mun and Commonwealth secretary-general Dr Kamalesh Sharma, who is based in London.
Britain is said to have tentatively decided to exclude Malaysia from its visa-exemption list, but a final decision will be made after a six-month grace period to enable Malaysia to put things in order.
“I will seek the attention of the British Government to re-consider Malaysia’s case in totality.
“Although Britain has given us six months to improve the situation, we have to be interactive and resilient and warn Malaysians going to the UK not to breach British laws.
“We are working closely with British authorities, so that at the end of the six-month period an imposition of the visa regime is obviated,” Dr Rais told The Star.
It was reported yesterday that Malaysian visitors to Britain would need to obtain a visa by the year-end if more of them continued to abuse their entry permits and overstay.
British High Commissioner to Malaysia William Boyd McCleary said Malaysian authorities had been asked a “range of questions” and Britain’s evaluation process would be completed by early 2009.
Dr Rais said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband had alerted him during a bilateral meeting in May to the problem.
“He said a total of 1,524 Malaysians violated British laws, for offences which included overstaying, credit card fraud, illegal employment and other crimes.
“A good number had worked while on interim social visits to Britain. All this has to stop,” he stressed.
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