PUTRAJAYA, Dec 1 — Immigration director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud outlined three key focus areas to make the Malaysian Immigration Department world-class by 2020.

He said the focus was on improving the quality of counter services, intensifying operations to curb illegal immigrants and upgrading the immigration information system.

Commenting on improving the quality of counter services, Khairul Dzaimee said every Immigration officer and staff member on duty at every entrance to the country had to undergo foreign language proficiency training, namely in Mandarin and English.

"This is because they (Immigration personnel) deal with foreign tourists from various countries and this is important in assignment for operations in handling these tourists,” he said in an interview with Bernama in conjunction with the Immigration Day celebration on Monday.

Without disclosing further details, Khairul Dzaimee said that currently the Mandarin Language programme was being managed in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy while the English programme would be held at the National Institute of Public Administration.

He said in addressing the issue of illegal immigrants, the department’s focus was to intensify its ongoing operations, which has hitherto been effective in reducing illegal entry of foreigners into the country.

"We will conduct relentless operations in fighting illegal immigrants and will be prepared in all aspects, especially in the face of threats to national security” he said.

Khairul Dzaimee said the arrest of 680 individuals suspected of being involved in an online investment fraud syndicate in Cyberjaya was the biggest achievement for the department this year.

Commenting on the upgrading of the immigration information system, Khairul Dzaimee said the new Integrated Immigration System would be used to replace the Malaysian Immigration System (MyIMMs).

"When the new system is implemented, the management of immigration affairs will no longer be carried out manually and will be reduced up to 60 per cent at the country’s entry points.

This means that every foreign visitor can come to the automatic entrance and scan their passports to be recorded to travel in this country,” he said.

Khairul Dzaimee said, in terms of security if the foreign visitor was blacklisted, when scanning the passport the automated gate will not open instead they would be taken to the immigration office for reference.

"In addition, the system will contain a mechanism to prevent foreign terrorists from coming into the country.

"If a foreign tourist has a record of engaging in terrorist activities, the system will release an image via the implementation of the Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR) data collection,” he said. — Bernama