Visa-on-arrival for Indians not revoked: Malaysia

Malaysia on Tuesday dismissed as inaccurate reports that visa-on-arrival (VOA) facility for travellers from India has been revoked, saying that the genuine tourists would continue to benefit from the scheme.

"I received information from the home ministry that what was reported in the newspapers about the VOA being discontinued was not accurate and that the policy of issuing

VOA for Indian tourists on arrival in Malaysia remains," Human Resources Minister S Subramaniam said in a statement.

His remarks came days after the local New Straits Times newspaper reported that the VOA for tourists from India and Bangladesh had been scrapped due to problems of illegal immigrants said genuine Indian tourists would be issued VOA by the Immigration authorities, adding that the government was concerned with "certain quarters" who had misused the VOA.

He acknowledged that the statement on the so-called abolition of the VOA had caused confusion. Besides, the minister said that Malaysia's Broadcasting Department never had plans to discontinue airing local and foreign Tamil dramas. His comments follow reports in a section of the press that Tamil programmes from India would not be aired by the local RTM channel.