PETALING JAYA: Stern action will be taken against enforcement personnel found to have abused their position in interstate travel permission matters, said Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

He said similar action would be taken against members of the public who were found to have abused the permission forms, including purchasing or obtaining empty forms with fake signatures and stamps.

Ismail Sabri stressed that the public must follow the right procedures to obtain interstate travel permission and not taking a short cut by falsifying the document.

"If there are fake stamps and signatures (on the forms), we will take stern action. Applications must be made at police stations with accurate information.

"If there are insiders (abuse of power by enforcement personnel), we will also take action because it is a violation of law," he said in a news conference after witnessing the Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony between Pharmaniaga Berhad (Pharmaniaga) and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) here, today.

In Shah Alam, police have opened an investigation paper pertaining to a viral photo of a form for interstate travel allegedly signed by the Section 6 Police Station assistant chief.

Previously, a similar case involving an empty form allegedly signed by the Chukai Police Stations Chief in Kemaman, Terengganu also went viral on social media but preliminary investigations found that the signature was forged.

On today's event, Ismail Sabri said a scientific and commercial project on stingless bee honey would be developed through cooperation between Pharmaniaga and UMT, involving participants from the B40 group and army veterans.

Besides expanding the potential and commercial value of stingless bee honey, he said the project could also help improve the economic status of those involved, especially the veterans.

"For a start, the joint venture aims to attract participation from 1,000 army veterans who will be provided with skills training and capital to operate stingless bee farms according to the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) to ensure the quality of the product," he said.

The MoU was signed by Pharmaniaga Group Managing Director Datuk Zulkarnain Md Eusope and UMT vice-chancellor Datuk Dr Nor Aieni Mokhtar and the ceremony was also witnessed by the Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad.

-- BERNAMA