Malaysia requires passports, seaman’s books for barter traders in Sabah

Amid fears of an influx of Filipinos and armed groups from Mindanao into Sabah, Malaysia hastightened requirements for entry, requiring barter traders to present passports or seaman’s books to enter the disputed territory.

Effective April 15, 2013, “all crews of barter trade ships or vessels will be required to produce valid travel documents, i.e international passport or seaman book at all entry ports in Sabah,” the Malaysian Foreign Ministry said in a note verbale sent to the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and other diplomatic missions.

 

The seaman identification card or SIC, it added, will no longer be issued to crews of barter trade ships or vessels without valid travel documentation.

 

Malaysia’s new guideline underscores Kuala Lumpur’s latest bid to reinforce control over Sabah, where nearly 200 followers of Philippine Sultan Jamalul Kiram III landed by boat from Tawi-Tawi last Feb. 12 to reclaim the land they said originally belongs to the sultanate.

 

Violence erupted between Malaysian security forces and Kiram’s men amid efforts from the Philippines and Malaysia to resolve the tense standoff peacefully.

 

At least eight men believed to be among Kiram’s followers have been put to trial while dozens remain in Malaysian custody. Philippine officials declined to say if all those arrested were Filipino nationals.

 

In Sabah, there are three ports allowed to engage in barter trade, namely Sandakan, Tawau, Kudat and Labuan.

 

Under the new measure, barter traders will only be allowed to be in Sabah and Labuan for a maximum of seven days, with no extension. Crew members are also not allowed to move to another boat until they return to their country of origin.

 

Starting April 2, 2013, permanent Custom and Immigration Quarantine (CIQ) complexes will be operating at Ports of Kudat and Lahad Datu as well as an Immigration Control office at Karakit, Pulau Banggi where all immigration and customs procedures will be enforced at the said entry points, the Foreign Ministry said.

 

Malaysia warned violators of five years imprisonment or up to RM50,000 in fines or six strokes of a cane.

 

They can also be charged under the new Immigration Act Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants, where the penalty is a maximum period of 20 years imprisonment or fine of RM500,000 and blacklisting.

 

The ship’s crew would also be charged under the Immigration Act’s Section 6 (1) (c) or lack of valid documents in entering the country, which provides for up to five years in prison or a fine of up to RM10,000 or up to six strokes of a cane.

 

Consul General Medardo Macaraig reminded barter traders from Mindanao of the new regulation so as not be “significantly inconvenienced if they are found by Malaysian authorities to be in violation.”

 

Previously, seamen’s cards are issued to individuals, as long as they satisfied the requirements, including a valid medical examination certificate and a payment of 50 Malaysian ringgit.

 

The number of barter traders issued with SICs last year was 18,388 and the number of vessels involved was 1,768.

 

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it is coordinating with concerned government agencies to support affected sectors in Mindanao in meeting the challenges of this new regulation.

 

“They (Malaysia) are in control of the area and they have come up with regulations and if our people would like to continue on with this arrangements with barter trading there is a need to comply with that regulation,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez told a press briefing.

 

Kiram said he sent his followers to Sabah to reclaim their homeland as efforts to get it back from Malaysia has been relegated to the backburner by the Philippine government.

 

He said his forebears leased Sabah to a British company in the 1870’s but was illegally annexed by Great Britain which then handed over the territory to Malaysia when it gained independence from the British Crown in 1963. — Michaela del Callar/RSJ, GMA News