Australia, Britain told to withdraw travel advisories to Malaysia

The travel advisories to Malaysia issued by the Australian and British governments to their citizens should be withdrawn, said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed.

He said the travel advisories were not justified given that the Malaysian government had undertaken security measures to prevent terrorism in the country.

"In terms of terrorist threats, so far we have arrested 117 individuals supporting militant groups and spreading violent extremist propaganda," he told the media after a special briefing on the country's national security situation to representatives of foreign missions in Malaysia, here, Tuesday.

Nur Jazlan said police and the armed forces had been assigned to accompany tourists visiting remote islands in Sabah and that some 1,000 tourists travelled to the islands each day.

In February, the government of Australia and the United Kingdom issued travel advisories on Sabah, to its citizens.

Touching on the meeting with the 221 representatives from 90 embassies, he said he was surprised when there were no questions from the Australian and British representatives concerning security threats in the country.

"When I asked them to retract their travel advisories, they did not say anything," he said.

On feedback from embassy representatives during the briefing, Nur Jazlan said they expected the government to step up security in areas that had 'soft targets' such as international schools around the federal capital, which their children attended.

He said the home ministry would discuss with the foreign ministry on creating a direct communication channel with the foreign missions to relay information on security.

"This is the first time the ministry has communicated directly with foreign mission representatives because before this according to protocol, they will communicate through the foreign ministry," he added.