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PETALING JAYA (THE STAR / ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – About 200 Malaysians were stranded for hours at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) amid confusion over a new ruling that bans people from 23 countries from entering, claiming that there were no hotel rooms to quarantine. the arrivals.
They were forced to stay inside airport waiting rooms for more than 10 hours on Monday (September 7) as ground personnel, including airline personnel, airport personnel, and immigration officers, attempted to resolve if the new rule applied to them too.
However, when contacted, immigration officials said it was clear that Malaysians would be allowed entry with all the proper documents.
Chief Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob also said that the travel ban imposed on people from 23 countries with a high number of Covid-19 cases does not apply to Malaysians returning from these places.
Jolene Yap, who was among 50 Malaysians who arrived from Britain around 6.30am Monday, claimed that when she and the others disembarked, they were prevented from reaching immigration counters despite showing approval letters from the High Malaysian Commissioner in Britain.
“At first, we were detained because ground staff were not sure whether Malaysians were allowed in under the new regulations.
“After hours of waiting, an official from the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) said they could not find hotel rooms to quarantine us.
“Then he gave us all the hotel phone numbers and told us that we should try to reserve our own hotel rooms.
“Even though we all called the same list of numbers, the hotels told us, when we got through, that only Nadma can reserve quarantine rooms and we can’t.
“We have been circled and we are all tired from the long flight,” said a frustrated Ms Yap.
At around 4 p.m., Ms Yap said that Nadma informed her and the other passengers that rooms were available for them and then transferred them to the quarantine stations in groups.
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