Government mulls over allowing only passengers to be in airport terminals - DPM

The government is considering a proposal to allow only the air passengers to be in the terminals at all major airports in Malaysia in order to raise the security level, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said the cabinet had at its meeting on Wednesday, proposed that only the passengers be allowed at the check-in counters while those sending them off should be outside the building or allowed to be at a particular place.

"The cabinet had instructed the Transport Minister (Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai) to work out this proposal with MAHB (Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad).

Hopefully, it can be implemented soon," he told Malaysian journalists covering the 11th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit, here.

Datuk Seri Zahid, who is leading the Malaysian delegation to the ASEM Summit, said Liow was also asked to find a mechanism to ensure that vehicles sending off or waiting for the air passengers would not be near the terminal.

"Perhaps these vehicles should only be allowed to be placed at the car park," he said when asked to comment on the terror attack in Nice, France, Thursday night which has left 80 people dead and several others injured.

Datuk Seri Zahid said he had also instructed that security control be tightened at all Malaysian airports, including increasing the number of police and military personnel deployed under the National Blue Ocean Strategy.

He said assets to enhance security control at the airports would also be icreased, including purchasing sophisticated devices like high-definition CCTVs and facial recognition equipment.

Meanwhile, he hoped that other ASEAN countries would also tighten security at their respective airports.