BUKIT KAYU HITAM: The home ministry is concerned over the high number of tourists from China and India who have overstayed in the country, as stated in the 2018 Auditor-General’s Report Series 2, yesterday.

The audit report had said there was no record of exit dates for more than 95% of Chinese and Indian tourists who visited the country between 2016 and 2018.

Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said he had referred the matter to the Immigration Department for investigation.

“When tourists do not go back and overstay, the immigration will want to know where they are.

“Immigration enforcement action will be taken against them,” he told reporters after the official handing-over ceremony for the Bukit Kayu Hitam Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security Complex to the ministry here today.

According to the audit report, during the 2016-2018 period, out of 79,799 Chinese tourist arrivals, there was no record of 76,258 of them leaving the country.

However, immigration director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud said these figures were inaccurate as the actual number of Chinese tourists who had not left was 18,341.

He attributed this to tourists using the Electronic Travel Registration & Information (eNTRI) system, a visa-free facility for visitors from China and India.

He said when these tourists leave the country using the normal system, or the regular social visit pass, problems arise in tracking their exits.

“This is why there is a difference in the figures,” he said at the same event.

Khairul said they would meet the National Audit Department to update the figures.

Work on the RM385 million Bukit Kayu Hitam ICQS complex began on June 14, 2014. It was completed on June 25 and became fully operational in August.

The complex is equipped with an anti-climb-type security fence and has about 300 high-definition closed-circuit cameras. Cargo scanners installed along the heavy-vehicle lanes ensure thorough inspection of all goods entering the country.

MANILA: The national contingent had another productive outing at the Manila SEA Games by bagging seven gold medals today.

Yeoh Li Tian gave Malaysia a roaring start by becoming the country’s first chess gold medallist in Games history, edging Vietnam’s defending champion Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son on tiebreak.

Bowler Timmy Tan added gold No 2 at Coronado Lanes in Starmall EDS to retain the men’s singles crown, scoring 1,334 pinfalls to beat Thailand’s Annop Arromsaranom by three pins.

Singaporean Cheah Ray Han took home the bronze (1,316).

Further victories came in squash – via Rachel Arnold, who beat Chan Yiwen in an all-Malaysian women’s singles final – and gymnastics.

Farah Ann Hadi aced the uneven bars event while Tan Fu Jie was successful in defending his men’s pommel horse title.

Men’s singles squash player Addeen Idrakie later followed in Rachel’s footsteps, defeating home favourite Robert Andrew Garcia 11-7, 3-11, 11-9, 11-5 in the final.

The women’s short-track speed skating relay team (3,000m) of Dione Tan, Anja Chong, Ashley Chin and Kynie Chan capped a good day by winning gold with a time of 4:52.235s.

The quartet finished ahead of Indonesia and Singapore to ensure Malaysia retained the title won two years ago in KL.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 — Only one per million notes of Malaysian Ringgit in circulation have been found to be counterfeit, the Parliament was told today.

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah said so far, the rate of counterfeit money in Malaysia was still low compared to other countries.

“We are lower than the United Kingdom at 128 notes per million, Euro (European Union), three pieces (in one million) and in Australia, it is 17 pieces per million.

“So we still have it (counterfeit money) under control,” he said when winding up the debate on the Currency Bill 2019.

The bill to ensure BNM remains the sole authority over the Malaysian currency was approved after more than an hour’s debate. — Bernama

DUBLIN, Dec 3 — Ryanair launched a bid in Ireland’s High Court today to prevent operations chief Peter Bellew from joining arch-rival easyJet until 2021, saying he possessed information of immense competitive value and that he had signed a non-compete clause.

Europe’s biggest budget airline said in July that the former Malaysia Airlines boss, who denies that he is bound by such a clause, would step down at the end of the year.

But after easyJet announced Bellew’s appointment as its new chief operations officer a week later, Ryanair filed legal proceedings to try to block him.

On the opening day of the case, a lawyer representing Ryanair listed information he said the airline could not allow to be passed to its rival, including details of delays to the delivery of Boeing’s grounded 737 MAX aircraft as well the terms of deals Ryanair has signed with airport baggage handlers.

Delays to the 737 MAX have slowed down Ryanair’s growth plans and it said last month they risked effectively halting the Irish airline’s expansion next summer.

“Mr Bellew has all of this information … in his head, and it would be of immense benefit to a rival,” senior counsel for Ryanair Martin Hayden told the court.

A delay of 12 months would mean information would be far less relevant, he added.

Hayden told the court that the initial contract Bellew signed in October 2017 did not include a non-compete clause, but said a bonus scheme accepted by Bellew at the time barred him from joining a competitor for 12 months after leaving Ryanair.

Bellew received a bonus payment of €1.13 million (RM5.23 million) in June this year, the court heard.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, who sat across the courtroom from Bellew, said in September the timing of Bellew’s switch was particularly sensitive because of the problems with the 737 MAX and that he should only start the new job in January 2021.

Bellew left his role as CEO of Malaysia Airlines two years ago to return to Ryanair, where he had been director of flight operations before leaving for Kuala Lumpur in 2014.

Tasked with tackling a pilot revolt that resulted in Ryanair’s first ever strikes, Bellew was part of an effort to patch up relations with staff and agree deals on pay and conditions with trade unions that have quelled the unrest.

But he was told by O’Leary in March that he would need to show “significantly improved performance” and would not be offered a fresh share option, Hayden told the court.

Hayden said Bellew only told O’Leary of his plans to move to easyJet a day before the British company announced the plan. Correspondence between Bellew and O’Leary “gets quite fulsome” after this, he told the court.

An Irish national, Bellew described his return to Ryanair in 2017 as “a form of national service” to help what he described as Ireland’s greatest company. Some observers had seen Bellew as a possible future Ryanair chief executive.

An easyJet spokeswoman declined to comment on the case. Bellew has not commented on the case since Ryanair initiated proceedings. — Reuters