SABAH and Labuan PKR have appealed to the Home Ministry to review the newly enforced immigration checks at the ferry terminals of Labuan and Menumbok. 

They claimed the immigration checks had slowed down boarding and disembarking, which could also lead to a decline in visitors to the duty-free island from mainland Sabah. 

Sabah PKR leadership council secretary Simsudin Sidek claimed the immigration checks at the two terminals had caused long queues and inconveniences to travellers, especially senior citizens and parents with young children. 

“We hope our newly appointed Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution will look into this matter seriously, and we look forward to discussing this issue with him. 

“It is troublesome for travellers to queue nearly an hour for the immigration checks, there must be a free flow for Sabahans in Labuan to travel in and out of this island,” he told Bernama today. 

Simsudin also said the soon to be implemented drive-thru immigration checks at the Labuan roll-on roll-off ferry are not practical due to the limited space in the terminal building and the narrow road 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 Sabah mainland. 

Its former minister Hamzah Zainudin said stricter control is needed to ensure there will be no free flow of travellers at the main gate of the ferry terminals to mainland Sabah via the Tanjung Pagar, Menumbok and Jesselton jetties. 

The stricter immigration checks at the terminals were at the request of the Sabah government as there had been issues with the abuse of the free flow policy at the terminals, which had resulted in entries into Sabah spiralling out of control, he added. – Bernama, December 4, 2022.