Immigration Department director general Alias Ahmad has denied a news report quoting him as citing Section 8 of the Immigration Act 1959/63 or the Passport Act to support the decision to cancel the passports of blacklisted Malaysians.

NONESpeaking to Malaysiakini, Alias (right) said he was misquoted by Malay-language daily Berita Harian, and that the daily will make corrections soon.

"The report is untrue and absolutely inaccurate. I did not even mention the Acts when speaking to the reporter.

"I am not a law expert but I know the law that the Immigration deals with and it is clear that Section 8 of the Immigration Act only applies to non-citizens," he said when contacted.

However, he said, the Immigration will indeed take action by cancelling the passports of 6,564 Malaysians who have been blacklisted.

He said that this was upon advice from police and Wisma Putra, and is supported by case law which says the government has power to cancel passports.

He, however, added that the decision to revoke the passport was done justly and would largely only effect those convicted overseas.

"They are mostly those convicted of drug-related crimes or other crimes, as well as those contravening immigration laws overseas. Not simply those who participate in demonstrations overseas.

"But it is noted that the two Malaysians who had their Singapore work visas revoked after participating in a demonstration there have been found guilty of contravening (Singapore) immigration laws," he said.

Judges: Government has discretion

Referring to the Federal Government vs Loh Wai Kong 1979 judgement, he said that the government has the right to "issue, not issue, delay the issuance of or revoke a passport".

This is at the government's discretion. The passport belongs to the government," Alias said.

In the judgement, the five- member bench found that Article 5 of the Federal Constitution "does not confer on the citizen "a right to a passport".

NONE"The government has discretion whether or not to issue, delay the issue of or withdraw a passport; for instance, if criminal charges are pending against the applicant.

"The exercise of this discretionary power is subject to review by a court of law," it reads

Members of the bench were the Lord President Suffian Mohamed Hashim, and Federal Court judges Raja Azlan Shah, Wan Suleiman Pawanteh, Chang Ming Tat and Syed Othman Ali.

Berita Harian on Monday quoted Alias as saying that the Immigration Department was looking at revoking the passports of those who tainted the nation's image abroad, by invoking Section 8 of the Immigration Act.

On Thursday, it quoted Alias again, this time saying that the department has 6,564 people on its blacklist and will cancel  their passports according to the Passports Act.

Lawyers have since pointed out that neither the Passports Act nor the Immigration Act has provisions which allow the cancellation of passports.

Alias should be censured

Later today, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang issued a statement calling for Alias to be censured for "professional negligence".

"I found it totally irresponsible, unprofessional and unethical that Alias never sought to clarify the mischievous Berita Harian report in the ensuing (six) days...

"(And) failing to correct the impression that the Malaysian government is cruel, callous and heartless to the extent that it could willy-nilly cancel passports of Malaysians abroad to render them ‘stateless' in foreign lands!" he said.

He added that the gaffe also reflects poorly on Home Minister Zahid Hamidi for having such an "irresponsible and unethical" department head.

Immigration DG, go study the Passport Act