KUALA LUMPUR — It is normal procedure for VIPs to be flagged at the country’s entry and exit points under the “Travel Control Office/Order” (TCO), said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
“Every VIP has this (TCO), even me,” media reported him saying at the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) campus in Gombak today.
Anwar was responding to claims by Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar yesterday that he was under surveillance.
Samsuri said he had been designated with a TCO that caused him to be stopped at border checkpoints and to await approval for cross-border movement. He said this happened even if he was going to Sabah and Sarawak.
The PAS vice-president and Kemaman MP also claimed he was being tailed and his communications monitored, including with phone taps.
He then alleged that the authorities were using the TCO as a political tool to gather information about political opponents.
However, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail last night dismissed Samsuri’s claims by saying that it was “normal procedure” for a security detail to be assigned to a head of a state government.
“There is no issue of spying because the police officers are already with him,” Saifuddin said in remarks to Free Malaysia Today.
The Home Minister also rejected Samsuri’s claim that his mobile phone was tapped, calling it “baseless”. – April 11, 2025