Passports of Alvin Tan, Ali Abdul Jalil revoked

PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian international passports of controversial sex blogger Alvin Tan and activist Ali Abdul Jalil are revoked today.
Immigration Department Director-General Datuk Mustafa Ibrahim told reporters that the revocation will be in effect the moment the department sends a registered letter to the duo informing them that their passports have been revoked.
"The notification letter will be sent to the addresses we have in our system and it will be done latest by tomorrow (today)," he said in a press conference today.
"Although we have blacklisted both their names in our system, they can still return to Malaysia if they are apply for the Emergency Certificate from the respective Malaysian embassies.
"However, the emergency certificate comes with certain limitations such as it can only be used for a single journey," he added, while revealing that the duo can still appeal against the revocation decision.
Asked under which section or clause in the Immigration Act justifies the department's revocation action, Mustafa explained that it was not based on any specific clause or section in the law but more on the information stated in the passport itself.
"The information states that the passport is not owned by the individual but the country, thus, it gives us the right to revoke it any time," he said, adding that owning a passport is not a rights but instead it a privilege that enable the holder to move freely between countries.
Mustafa then pointed out that even though this is the first time the department has taken such a drastic move, they will not hesitate to do it again against any individual who insults the courts, the rulers as well as Islam.
"We hope this will serve as a warning to the duo as well as any other individuals," he said, adding that Tan and Ali were still Malaysians as their citizenship had not been revoked or removed.
Tan is currently in Los Angeles, California while Ali is in Sweden where both of them have been seeking political asylum.
Ali faces three sedition charges for allegedly insulting the Johor royalty and the Sultan of Selangor in his Facebook postings while Tan faces multiple criminal charges under the Film Censorship Act, Sedition Act and the Penal Code for his controversial online uploads, and seditious social media posting deemed insulting to Islam.
In an immediate reaction, Tan appears unperturbed by the action of the Immigration Department to revoke his passport.
In a Facebook posting, he said that now that his passport had been revoked, it would facilitate his application for political asylum in the US.
"Loss of passport would not mean loss of citizenship. I would be eligible for a United Nations travel document issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services."