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Monday 14 July 2008

Travel Restrictions To UK

Looks like the UK has had about enough of Malaysians and wants to slap visa restrictions on us because we keep getting involved in crime.

The NST claims it's because Malaysian women are often caught being drug mules.

It is learnt that Britain is unhappy with the number of Malaysians caught for criminal offences, especially drug "mules".

Recently, there has been a growing number of young, unattached Malaysian women caught overseas for drug smuggling.

Looking through the BBC and Times Online, I couldn't find a cross reference that agreed with that. I've read about Malaysians apparently guilty of bogus passports, criminal acts and terrorism.

But let's just say that the NST is right and this Visa restriction is because of Malaysian women smuggling drugs across borders.

Frankly, I just about lost it when I first heard about the restrictions they plan to impose on women. Like carrying a letter around is going to prove anything. It's discrimination, pure and simple.

To give credit to our ingenious Foreign Affairs ministry, I'm sure there are some drug-smuggling deals that have been planned long before the women decide to go abroad.

I think the drug peddlars contact the 'mules' through the internet, befriend them, offer them a simple job with lucrative benefits (at this point, the warning bells start ringing in my head) and coax these women to meet them abroad with a small package.

If Rais Yatim is reading this, I can almost hear him calling for a ban on the internet to combat this particular problem. Our ministers are so brilliant, it makes one swell with pride.

But getting back to the issue, I do feel sorry for some of these women. I'll bet they're hit where they're most vulnerable - either their pockets or their hearts.

That being said, I think a lot of the drug dealers prey on potential victims in the airport itself, especially those who appear lost or overwhelmed. The Foreign Affairs ministry can't do anything about this.

I've lost count of the number of times I've flown. Or even been in an airport. I cringe to think how I must have appeared, the first time I flew alone. :)

But today, I can always spot a newbie. The hesitation, the "lost" look. Heck, I get lost all the time in airports, but I know what I need to do to find my way around and whom to ask.

That lost puppy look is about as obvious as flashing neon lights with a signboard sprouting from their foreheads identifying them as "GREENHORN".

If I can spot a first-timer, the well-trained eye of a drug-smuggler can do it faster.

Forget about trying to combat this problem at the Immigration Department. Start by educating these young women.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey PAL ;)

If you've been in the UK, you'll kinda know that Malaysians (erm, Malays mostly) are notorious for credit card fraud, football match fixing (like switching off the lights at a stadium to fix a match), and exploiting any existing loophole there is to exploit. ;O

Anonymous said...

Serves THEM right. Tsk Tsk Tsk.

Crankster said...

Well, of course! The stupid pariah-dog type of Malay who has no brains but is sponsored by UMNO-MARA usually tends to get involved in crime.

These types usually don't graduate either.

However, being KL-born-and-bred (and proud of it), I know heaps of upper-class Malays (and I don't mean the Jib&Ros type) who have gone abroad, gotten themselves a good education without getting up to some mischief and come back quite dignified.

Unfortunately, once they get a taste of the Malaysian scene, they promptly make a bolt back for the UK.

Anonymous said...

Hey Crankshaft

You are right of course.
And the mainland Chinese can be just as bad sometimes...
It's usually depends more on background, affluence, education more than "race".