KOTA KINABALU: According to a senior lawyer in Sabah, it has been a long-standing practice for visitors outside East Malaysia to show their passports or MyKads when entering East Malaysia at the points of entry, adding that this was agreed upon when Sabah and Sarawak joined Malaya to form the Federation of Malaysia.

Lawyer Chin Tek Ming said, Sabah had proposed 20-point agreement before its incorporation into the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. It stated clearly Sabah’s sovereignty over immigration matters.

He told Sin Chew Daily East Malaysia’s sovereignty over immigration matters was also incorporated into Part VII on Special Provisions For East Malaysia in the Immigration Act 1959-1963, including the powers and discretions of the state governments of Sabah and Sarawak, the immigration departments of these two states, as well as documents to be produced when entering the states.

“During the early years, Malaysian citizens outside Sabah and Sarawak would have to produce their passports when entering the two East Malaysian states, and immigration officials would stamp the passports, reminding the visitors that they could only stay in Sabah or Sarawak for not more than 90 days.”

This practice was adopted until the country came up with MyKad with embedded smart chips allowing immigration officials to retrieve the visitors’ national registration information.

The state governments of Sabah and Sarawak agreed in 2006 to accept MyKad in place of a passport as the document needed at points of entry.

Chin said when entering Sabah or Sarawak with a MyKad, the immigration official would print a “dokumen gantian perjalanan” that stipulates also the visitor’s maximum stay of 90 days.

“Of course, there is no problem for West Malaysians to continue to use their passports to enter East Malaysia.”

Recently, a Kuala Lumpur resident posted on Facebook that her passport was inspected and stamped by an immigration official when entering Sabah.

The post has since drawn tremendous debates among Malaysian social media users whether there should be a separate set of laws  within the same country.