As political dissatisfaction in the country grows, government-issued travel bans for Malaysian citizens are an unattractive reality. Under the guidance of Prime Minister Najib Razak, citizens who negatively speak out against the government are liable to face a three-year travel ban. The new ruling from the country’s immigration department is intended to protect Malaysia’s image in the rest of the world. The ruling was handed down several months ago but just now receives public dispute due to the immigration department’s threats actually coming to fruition when Maria Chin Abdullah, chairwoman, Bersih, was barred from leaving the country when she attempted to travel to South Korea. Bersih is responsible for public political protests in the past and efforts to force the prime minister to resign. According to quotes from local Malaysian publications, Sakib Kusmi, director general, Malaysian Immigration Department, stated owning a passport is a “privilege and not a right. The government has the discretion to either issue, defer or revoke the travel document.” Amnesty International is quite vocally criticizing the ban, pointing to multiple instances of government critics accused of sedition and not only banned from international travel, but also facing hefty fines and jail time. “A travel ban on critics will mark a dangerous escalation in the government’s ongoing crackdown on dissent. The right to freedom of speech is a key human right which the Malaysian people deserve to enjoy just like any other people,” said Josef Benedict, deputy director, South East Asia and the Pacific, Amnesty International. When asked how the new bans would affect tourism in the country, Datuk Seri Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, director general, Tourism Malaysia, was quoted as saying, “The Malaysian government’s policy is to encourage tourism and easy flow in and out of the country. There is no general rule to ban travel, but there are exceptions applied only to specific people.”