More relaxed e-visas for Sri Lankans visiting Malaysia from November

 An agreement has been reached to implement e-visas for Sri Lankan tourists visiting Malaysia and this is expected to be finalised in November, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Ahmad Zahid, who is also Home Minister, speaking to Malaysian journalists on tour with him to Sri Lanka, said he hoped the matter could be finalised when Malaysia attends an international meeting in Sri Lanka in November.

"Although we have had a soft launch of the e-Visa system, we hope to finalise its implementation in November when either the Prime Minister or I will be attending an international Islamic conference in Sri Lanka," he told Bernama news agency at the end of a two-day working visit to this South Asian country, in Colombo on Friday.

It was at a news briefing earlier this year by a visiting Malaysian tourism delegation to encourage more arrivals from Sri Lanka that the Sunday Times raised the issue of a complicated and complex visa process for Sri Lankans visiting Malaysia. "How could you encourage more Sri Lankans to visit Malaysia when the visa process is so cumbersome and unwelcome," a Sunday Times reporter present asked the officials at the briefing. As more questions from the media arose, the officials then agreed to review the visa process.

The visiting Deputy PM told Bernama that the number of Sri Lankan tourists to Malaysia had reduced and they wanted to reverse this trend and encourage more Sri Lankan tourists to visit the country Tourism Malaysia could increase awareness on tourist attractions and activities available in Malaysia through aggressive promotions and advertising.

On cooperation in tackling terrorism, Ahmad Zahid said Malaysia had offered Sri Lanka to send its officials from enforcement agencies for training in Malaysia.

On the possibility of foreign countries like Sri Lanka having the perception that crime was increasing in Malaysia, Ahmad Zahid told Bernama that since 2014, the crime rate was reduced by between 45 to 50 per cent.

This he said was due to the various programmes including enforcement activities conducted, but sadly when the crime rate decreased, the people's perception did not change.

Speaking on the demand for Sri Lankan workers in Malaysia, Ahmad Zahid said among others the government needed to examine existing rules as well as consider the workers' qualifications from this country.

He said Sime Darby for instance had asked for 5,000 workers to replace the Bangladeshi and Indonesian workers who had been working in their plantation sector.

Ahmad Zahid said the two-day visit had left a deep impression on him and had been meaningful in the context of bilateral cooperation and business relations.