M'sia MPs unhappy with 'excessive groping' by airports officers
A discussion at the Malaysian Houses of Parliament on airport security was derailed slightly after MPs started complaining about "excessive groping" during body searches.
Mr Makin Marcus Mojigoh, MP for Putatan, Sabah protested loudly against the pat-downs, which he said was done extensively in East Malaysia airports, The Star reported on Tuesday (Nov 24).
He said: "I know that the safety of passengers is the priority, but I have gone through many international airports and no one has ever touched me in the name of pat downs."
Mr Mojigoh, a member of Barisan Nasional, added: "Can’t our airports have scanners instead, so we do not have to be groped in all sorts of places when going through airport security."
Dr Khairuddin Aman Razali, Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party's MP for Kuala Nerus, agreed and called for better scanning equipment at airports so that pat downs could be avoided.
Batu MP Chua Tian Chang scoffed at the suggestion that a security officer’s hands were more capable of detecting hidden explosives on a person.
"A security threat is not child’s play. I don’t care if I need to be patted down 10 times to ensure all is well. But if a machine can do the job just as well, why can’t we use the machine instead?" he said.
In response, Deputy Transport Minister Ab Aziz Kaprawi said he would relay the concerns to Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad.
Source: The Star
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