KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Home Minister Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman has dismissed allegations that Israeli agents were managing Bukit Aman’s communications and server system.
He acknowledged that the person brought in to install the system was Israeli but more importantly he was an engineer and a technical expert.
“Representatives from the police were present during the installation process in 2012. The engineer, sent by a Singapore-based company, is here not just to maintain the system but to also provide training based on an agreement reached when we purchased the system,“ he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Mohd Azis was responding to a supplementary question from Ahmad Marzuk Shaary (PAS-Pengkalan Chepa-PAS) who wanted the Home Ministry to explain allegations made by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (PH-Port Dickson) nine years ago that Israeli agents had infiltrated Bukit Aman.
To another question from Ahmad Marzuk, Mohd Azis said Malaysia did not recognise Israel as a sovereign nation and any travel between the two countries was prohibited unless special permission was granted based on specific purposes.
“Consideration can be given if it benefits the country in terms of politics, economy, technology, education, defence, social issues and manufacturing,“ he said.
Applications have been received from Malaysians to travel to Israel to visit the holy sites there. Since 2016, a total of 7,870 Malaysians have been given permission to visit Israel.
A total of 105 Israeli citizens were allowed to enter Malaysia from 2016 to March 2019.
In 2016, 33 of them came to attend meetings on trade considerations and to train Malaysian workers on microchip engineering. Mohd Azis said that in the following year, 35 were allowed to enter the country — 17 of whom came to attend international conferences.
Last year, 34 were allowed in, with 32 of them on trade matters and two to attend a conference. So far this year, three have been allowed in.
However, Mohd Azis said, the government would stop issuing permits for Israelis to enter Malaysia in line with a new policy to bar them from attending international conferences, meetings or programmes here.
