More bite in new anti-smuggling Act

New statute to formalise and empower Malaysian Border Security Agency

JOHOR BARU: Cars, sugar, oil and cooking gas tanks – these are among the products being smuggled across the borders of Malaysia, leading to losses of tens of millions of ringgit.

With that in mind, the Government plans to give more bite to the new Malaysian Border Security Agency (Aksem) to stop these smugglers.

Aksem will replace the AntiSmuggling Unit (UPP) which has been in operation for more than 20 years.

The Aksem Act could be passed into law during the current Parliament sitting.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said smuggling was rampant along the border with Thailand where cars and essential goods are taken across with impunity.

“Some of the terrain in the area is hilly and our enforcement agencies are unable to fully stop all these smugglers along our huge land borders,” he said.

The narrow Sungai Golok that runs between Rantau Panjang in Kelantan and Mundok in Thailand is another place where smuggling is rampant.

“In the south with Singapore and Indonesia, we have a natural water border but we also face smuggling involving essential items,” said Nur Jazlan.

As for Sabah, we also have issues of smuggling involving essential items including gas tanks being smuggled into Indonesia,” he added.

Cooking oil, which is still a subsidised item, is also among the many items that are smuggled across the borders, repacked and sold for huge profits.

Nur Jazlan said smuggling was rampant in these areas as many of the essential items were heavily subsidised in Malaysia.

He added that UPP was presently a loose set-up involving cooperation among many agencies such as the Home Ministry involving the police and Immigration, Customs Department under the Finance Ministry and Road Transport Department under the Transport Ministry.

“Now, we will have a more formal set-up and Aksem will report directly to its director-general, who will be from the police force.

The bulk of its personnel will also come from the police General Operation Force (GOF)

“We hope that once the Aksem Act is passed in Parliament, they will be given more clout and bite to curb smuggling and improve on their prosecution of cases nationwide.

“We want to go after the big fish involved in smuggling,” he said after launching the Program Jelajah Johor Berkemajuan 2016, a state government plan and initiative for civil servants and local community leaders.

On another issue, Nur Jazlan urged government agencies such as the Welfare Department to channel more funds directly to NonGovernmental Organisations (NGO) to reach out to more people.

Nur Jazlan, who is also Pulai MP, said the department should then set a Key Performance Index (KPI) for these NGOs to meet to ensure the money was spent properly on projects to help the people.

“I went together with Kechara Soup Kitchen to offer assistance on Saturday night and was shocked to find at least 800 people in our city receiving aid from this NGO,” he added.

Nur Jazlan said many of them were locals from the rural areas who have migrated to Johor Baru looking for better job opportunities.

“However, as they are unable to get suitable jobs, they have to live on the streets," he said.

He said many were from Kota Tinggi and Muar and others from other places including Sabah and Sarawak.

We hope that once the Act is passed in Parliament, they will be given more clout to curb smuggling and improve on their prosecution cases. Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed