SEPANG: Despite the long queues, international travellers at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport have generally favourable opinions of Malaysian Immigration officers.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing recently caused a stir when footage of him bursting into the Immigration checkpoint area at Terminal 1 of KLIA went viral on social media.
The minister claimed he did so to check on the "culture of corruption" among Immigration officers at KLIA.
The New Straits Times asked tourists about their experience at KLIA's Immigration counters.
A British tourist who flew in from Doha said that the long queues were normal and that he had no problems since he had a work visa.
"The actual immigration process was pretty straightforward I think because if you have a work visa, you just go straight through."
When asked if the immigration staff were helpful, he said: "They did their jobs."
A woman travelling from China claimed that there were a lot of people at the immigration at KLIA today, forcing her to wait in the queue for an hour.
She expressed her frustration, saying, "It took me almost an hour just to queue. I really had to wait for a long time, I think."
She also mentioned that she found the staff at the immigration to be friendly and efficient.
However, she said that it would be beneficial for Chinese tourists and passengers if the staff could improve their proficiency in Mandarin.
"Maybe they can work on their Mandarin more since there are many Chinese tourists who cannot speak English," she said.
"So they might get stuck here (at the immigration counters), struggling (and) wasting a lot of time.
"If there were more staff (members) who can speak Mandarin, I think it would be more efficient and save a lot of time for the passengers," she said, claiming that many tourists were held up due to language barriers.
A Chinese student who has flown regularly from China said it did not take long for him to get past the Immigration counter.
"It only took me a minute because I'm a student, so the pass is special for students."
"They are very friendly and helpful."
Eman, who flew in from Saudi Arabia also stated that she had had no complaints from the Immigration counter other than the long queues that eventually resulted in a man fainting.
"I don't know if you've seen the queue but it was long and a guy fainted so I felt bad for him.
"It was so crowded and everyone was sticking to each other."
The corruption allegations against the Immigration Department has triggered investigations by the police and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission
SME Association President, Ding Hong Sing also claimed that foreign companies had complained of the Immigration Department detaining their employees at KLIA for no reason.