LUST for LIFE

Did you read the front page headlines in the local media on June 27 relating to the Alantuya Shaariibuu murder trial? For more info on this high-profile case, just google the name and you should get countless results.

Now picture this. You go abroad on a business trip or for a holiday. Upon returning to home soil, you’re stopped by the people in blue because the immigration database shows no record of you having left the country. You protest and produce your airline ticket and boarding pass as documentary proof. But the immigration officers are not fully convinced. You are then detained until the matter is sorted out. Scary, isn’t it?

In the Altantuya trial, the witness from Mongolia told the court that she was briefly detained at KLIA. “There was no record of me, Namiraa and Altantuya entering Malaysia. The records had been destroyed.” (The Star)

For the record, Malaysia was the first country to issue chip-based electronic travel documents in March 1998, which use advanced cryptographic technology. The machine-readable biometric passports of departing and returning travellers are not stamped.

Just hope that computer glitch doesn’t happen once too often! To play it safe, don’t thrash your airline ticket and boarding pass; they’re your supporting evidence. Maybe, you should take a photo of yourself at the departure lounge holding a copy of the day’s newspaper edition. Getting a bit paranoid, hee, hee…