TAIWANESE WOMAN DETAINED BY MALAYSIA DUE TO TORN PASSPORT|護照破損 台女被大馬海關拘留35小時

Top story today, a Taiwanese woman traveling to Malaysia was detained for 35 hours at immigration and deported back to Taiwan, because she had a torn page in her passport. We've learned that the page was partially torn after an immigration officer in Japan tried to take off a tax refund slip stapled to her passport, which is a merited cause of concern, but 35 hours of detention is just somewhat out of proportion. Besides, there were suspicions of bribe demanding, right? Yes, the woman said one of the officials asked for money. Anyway, the case has attracted the attention of the Malaysian government after the whole thing went to facebook, and investigations have been underway. ==MS. CHIAO Detained Traveler== After I got (my luggage) in order, I was leaving the area, when one of the officials there stopped me and said, "money" with his hand out. I pretended not to understand. Ms. Chiao is still angry at her treatment by Malaysian authorities when she traveled there on the 9th. Though she is a frequent visitor to Malaysia, she was detained at the airport for 35 hours because of a damaged page in her passport that was torn when Japanese customs removed a duty-free slip. ==MS. CHIAO Detained Traveler== It smelled terrible, and there were scribblings on the wall by people who were detained there, saying they were in there for hours, even more than 100 hours. It made me very scared that I would be detained for that long. After returning to Taiwan, Ms. Chiao posted on Facebook complaining of inhumane treatment by Malaysian authorities and her suspicions of them demanding a bribe. The post attracted the attention of Malaysian officials. Tiong King Sing, Malaysia's East Asian special ambassador, wrote on his own Facebook that a Taiwanese traveler was detained by Malaysian immigration officials, who requested payment from her; the post said that Malaysia's Ministry of Home Affairs is very concerned about the issue for its possible effect on Malaysian tourism and that the Minister has ordered a thorough investigation. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia has been notified of the investigation, and the results will be announced as soon as possible. However, this is not the first such incident with Malaysian immigration. ==LI TZU-JUNG Travel Agent== Usually, travelers are taken to a small detention room off to the side, where they are asked why their passport is torn. The goal is usually to demand some amount of payment to let the traveler through. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement on the incident, saying that the representative office has been proactive in its handling of the situation. The statement also said that hundreds of people are refused entry into Malaysia every day and that the incident was not targeted toward Taiwan. The Ministry said that all Taiwanese should check if their passport is damaged or torn before going abroad. Translated by JOHN CHEN 一名台灣女子3月9號前往馬來西亞旅遊，入境時，因為護照內頁有破損，遭到海關刁難，扣留長達35個小時，才被遣返回台灣。她在臉書上控訴遭到不人道對待，引起當地政府官員關切，我外交部表示，駐處已經向吉隆坡機場了解相關情形。 ==當事人 喬小姐== 當我放好(行李)之後 我要走出來的同時 裡面有一個海關叫住我 跟我說Money 手拿出來這樣 我假裝我聽不懂 講到這個月九號去馬來西亞旅遊，一落地就被海關刁難的情況，喬小姐愈說愈委屈，幾度哽咽！平均每隔一個月就去馬國的她，護照內頁因為免稅單被日本海關撕下有所破損，而被扣留在機場的「照護室」，長達35個小時。 ==當事人 喬小姐== 裡面的(味道)又很臭 牆壁寫上好多字 有人被關了好幾個小時 甚至有1百多個小時 我愈看愈害怕 我好怕我自己會被關這麼久 返台後，喬小姐在臉書上控訴遭到馬來西亞海關不人道的對待，還遇上疑似收賄的情形，引起當地政府官員的關切，馬來西亞首相東亞特使張慶信在臉書上寫著，一名台灣旅客遭到大馬移民局扣留，並索取解決經費，引起馬國內政部關注，可能對旅遊業造成打擊，部長已經下令徹查。並已通知駐馬台北經濟文化辦事處，預料會儘早公布調查結果。不過類似這樣遭到海關刁難的類似狀況，並非第一起。 ==旅行社業者 李姿蓉== 通常大部分都是被留到旁邊 小小的一個居留室 可能要詢問相關的問題 為什麼你的護照有破損 目的基本上就是可能 要索取一些通關費 對於這起事件，我外交部也發出說明表示，已於第一時間主動掌握訊息，進行了解，而該機場每天被拒絕入境人數多達百人，各國都有，並無針對性，也呼籲國人出國前，一定要注意護照是否有破損。 記者 台北 台中綜合報導