KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will make the special immigration lane for Asean nationals more prominent at the KL International Airport (KLIA) when the country assumes Asean chairmanship starting Jan 1 next year.
Dubbed the Asean Immigration Lane, Asean-Malaysia National Secretariat director-general Datuk Shahrul Ikram said the lane was introduced as part of the Asean Economic Community’s (AEC) initiative to ease the movement of the 10-member bloc visitors to Malaysia.
He said the lane would also be opened at other airports and entry points nationwide for the purpose of tourism and official matters by the first quarter of next year.
“This is one of Malaysia’s way to champion and enter a new era of Asean community when Malaysia assumes the chairmanship.
“We are ready to take cooperation within Asean to a new level,” he told reporters when met at the Asean Exhibition booth at Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) here yesterday.
Currently, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei Darussalam have implemented such initiative.
Shahrul said the initiative was mooted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who wanted to create a ‘people-centred Asean’ that would see more direct involvement of all sectors of society in Asean’s activity.
However, Shahrul said the initiative to open Asean Immigration Lane at each Asean country would need consensus agreement among the nations.
Besides, he said such a special lane for Asean community would also bring a sense of belonging or the feeling of being a part of the Asean family.
For the record, Malaysia has been Asean chairman in 1977 and 2005. — Bernama