MALAYSIA A LOW-RISK NATION

US lists nation as having lowest advisory levels for safety and security risk under improved travel advisory

MALAYSIA has been listed as one of the countries with the lowest advisory levels for safety and security risk under the United States’ newlyimproved travel advisory.

The advisory, launched by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs on Wednesday, ranked countries based on the assessment of the countries’ security situation with a four-level ranking system.

It stated that level one, the lowest advisory level, informed US travellers to “exercise normal precaution”, level two was “exercise increased caution”, level three was “reconsider travel” and level four was “do not travel”.

Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, like Malaysia, also fall under level one.

China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nepal, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Saudi Arabia are ranked level two.

Cuba, Dominica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Lebanon, Sudan, Nigeria, Turkey, Pakistan, Russia and Venezuela are ranked level three, while level four countries are Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Somalia, Syria, South Sudan, Yemen and North Korea.

The bureau’s acting deputy assistant secretary for overseas citizen services, Michelle BernierToth, on Monday said the improved safety ranking system for countries was the first major overhaul after many years and that the assessment of countries was conducted based on information provided by various parties.

“The way we assess the threat level in a country hasn’t changed.

“There’s a collaborative process that involves our security experts, the intel community, host governments, our embassies and consulates.

“The information that they give us determines how we are going to rank a country.

“It’s how we describe those conditions and set those levels that have changed.”

She said the travel advisory would be reviewed on a regular basis.

“Level one and two will be reviewed every year, if not more frequently, depending on circumstances.

“Level three and four will be reviewed every six months.

“In the reviewing process, we will be very careful as we want to make sure that we are consistent in how we assess and rank countries.”