By Karen Bong
KUCHING, March 29: Sarawakians have been warned not to enter or attempt to enter other countries illegally or they will have to ‘face and suffer the consequences’.
Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Public Complaints Bureau (PCB) chief Wilfred Yap highlighted this after being approached by the family members of a local Sarawakian woman who has been detained in Indonesia since January this year.
According to the family members, she was cheated by an Indonesian man in Bau. The man told her that he could assist her in getting an Indonesian passport as she was desperate in wanting to go to China to meet her friend.
This was because her Malaysian passport was withheld by the government for two years due to some problems she was facing when working in Papua New Guinea.
She was arrested after she followed the Indonesian man to go to Kalimantan, Indonesia, through Serikin using a ‘jalan tikus’ or illegal path without a valid passport.
The brother of the woman detained in Indonesia, who wants to be known as Ting only, yesterday (March 28) lodged a police report on the matter at the Simpang Tiga Police One Stop Centre.
“They came forward today to highlight this case to warn members of the public not to be easily coerced by people who offer something that is too good to be true,” Yap told a press conference at the SUPP headquarters here today.
“Sarawakians should not enter Indonesia through `jalan tikus’ and without a valid passport,” he said.
Yap, who is a practising lawyer, reminded all Sarawakians who intended to travel overseas over any purposes to go through the proper channel and comply with the immigration regulations, including applying for a visa when required to do so.
“We hope the public will be more discerning in their decisions and not be easily susceptible to sweet promises,” he reiterated.
SUPP PCB will write to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Malaysian Consulate General in Pontianak to assist the Sarawakian woman to ensure her welfare, basic needs and medical needs were taken care of and to speed up the legal process.
“We are hoping the state government can assist at a later stage. The police will do a proper investigation as well. We will take this one step at a time,” he added.
Yap said he would continue to follow up and monitor the situation closely until the predicament facing the Sarawakian woman is completed. — DayakDaily
