Forum - View topicLocked Up for Dress Up: Cosplayers Recount Harrowing Week in Malaysian Prison
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Meongantuk
 Posts: 353 |
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It's mostly the organizer's fault though, for not providing the work visa, yes there's that guy who reported, but the organizer is still at fault. |
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MidoriUma
Posts: 130 |
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So you're going to financially punish the workers in the hospitality industry for actions they had nothing to do with, no control over, and weren't even aware of? How would you feel if you lost your job because someone in your government, completely unconnected to you, did something horrible? |
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Hellsoldier
 Posts: 754 Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol |
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All of this is sad, but none of this is surprising. Malaysia has a horrible Human Rights record, where the Malay ethnic group is favored in employment, immigrants and detainees are treated with the horror that you've just heard of, and it's no surprise that there were homophobic slurs on the male side of the camp, since homosexuality is punishable with up to 20 years in prison.
I can say for sure that, despite knowing there are plenty of awesome Malaysians out there, and knowing that Malaysia is a beautiful country, it's not a country I want to step on anytime soon. Please understand. |
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PlanetPoo007
Posts: 1 |
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This Weekend I wanted to visit Comic Fiesta and sell some of my cosplay pictures. So I went to the Malaysian Embassy in my own country for more information. Even told them about this whole accident. The funny thing was, they told me that they don't give any Working Visa for an event of 2 days, let alone an 1 day event like Geek Summit. . 
So it's kinda strange. They want you to get a Working Visa but they won't give them, WHY MALAYSIA?! .
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5824 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Not someone, but many. From the Immigration Officials, the Immigration Police, the Transportation Guards, and finally the Prison Guards. Everyone was horrible. Everyone enjoyed the cruelty of their actions and fellows. As described by the victim. If you value the job security of foreign hospitality workers higher than your own life and well being........... I think you would have a different tune, if this happened to someone you cared about. |
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jumpingbrowser
Posts: 1 |
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Like, you seem to not really think this over. You say "you should check and get the needed stuff by yourself" - which is totally true, believing on someone word is the worst thing you could do, so at least having on paper stuff like that is better than nothing. Other thing is that even if you had such work visa, they could also come and say it's forgery, because why not.
Yet another thing is that when the guy said
Here although comes the last one. If you come to a place like that, a convention, and you detain people which only crime is that they dress up in fancy costumes, should you actually throw them into a freaking death camp? Shouldn't the right way to act be actually sending them home in the very first plane? Or maybe you just want to destroy the cosplay community in your country because "how they can do something that i dislike", then you do shit like this, so people will tell their story of what happened to them and others that would get invited, even with full paperwork done, still would think twice or even thrice about actually going there. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9839 Location: Virginia |
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If the tourist industry fails, it is not the fault of the potential tourist who correctly finds the country to be dangerous and refuses to go there. It is rather the fault of the officials and citizens that render the country too dangerous for a tourist to visit. |
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NishizawaMihashi
 Posts: 29 Location: Malaysia |
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Is that so? I'll try to check with some of my contacts, see if they know anyone who's familiar with the process. It's quite possible that they declare their business visa to be much longer than the event days but only utilize the event days only for business while the rest is just sightseeing. That's usually what the headline guests tend to do anyway, not sure about vendors. I think that ASEAN members some slight visa advantage but even then I'm not too sure. I'll try to check for you Σ(-᷅_-᷄๑) |
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omoikane
Posts: 494 |
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Both of these have nothing to do with the article/story. 1. talking to lawyers ahead of time is pointless because, as the reporting says, the convention talked to the officials and still was assured things would be fine. It's probably the same if you asked a lawyer. plus, how is the cosplayer going to apply for the visa when the organization bringing them wasn't going to, after consulting with the authorities who told them they didn't need it? 1a. see also this post. 2. good luck finding a lawyer in Japan that knows this deeply about Malaysian immigration. good luck affording it! hobbyist cosplay guests who aren't even being paid are not going to fork out money for this. easier to just decline and not go. 3. the cancelled US guests have more to do with visa processing on the US side and how timely it happens/finicky etc. There is not much you can do about it unless you have some connection to that whole bureaucracy. Also it's not something that just automagically happens for free... if you care about this issue, it's fairly well reported in general also by oversea musicians trying to tour in the US. Times like this i wish ANN is a real news site with people who write up this kind of articles properly, so it is less confusing lol. it's pretty clear there is someone who is causing trouble. what kind of bored immigration folks would do this kind of thing anyways. |
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MidoriUma
Posts: 130 |
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I've been to malaysia several times when I lived in Singapore, KL is a popular destination and I've also been along the Eastern side crossing up to Thailand. Everyone was ridiculously friendly and helpful. Not once did I feel unsafe or in danger. This is the work of a few bad apples in places of power. Of course everyone can and should make their own decisions on where they feel comfortable traveling, but some of the comments about boycotting Malaysia are just silly. Collective punishment went out of fashion generations ago. |
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NishizawaMihashi
Posts: 29 Location: Malaysia |
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I dicussed with some of my contacts on what had transpired, and it seems that the 'instigator' that led to these officials from the Immigration Department coming over to the event can be either one of several suspects
A friend of mine was actually a volunteer at Geek Summit and he told me that the committee had tried as much as they could to prevent the March incident from ever happening again, however the moment he got word that the officials were on site, he mentioned to me that the whole incident seemed to be "too much of a coincidence". He also said that the committee that was in charge of organizing the event already suspected a particular someone was pulling some strings to even get those officials to come over for an 'investigation', but that they can't really prove it as there's no hard evidence to tie that suspect down for criminal conspiracy, which leads me to my next point: One particular rumor that's been going around is that there is a possibility that that asshole who organized Cosplay Summit way back in March was the one that instigated the raid but like I've mentioned just now there's no hard evidence. Another friend who's been thinking about the event from the legal side of things found it very suspicious that another raid had even been allowed to happen, as PUSPAL authorization is only required if you're expected to make a public appearance as some kind host, or performer or talk show guest and anything similar to those. Furthermore, the social visit pass covers both tourist and business visits excepting long-term employed work, so in essence, exhibition vendors can sell their wares without requiring any further authorization as long as their country of origin already has a visa agreement, which so far includes over 150 countries with varying continuous stays of either 30 or 90 days Other thant that, when you start to consider how major and even many smaller ACG events operate with the endless stream of cosplayers, and auxiliary police and security personnel making their rounds inside and outside the convention halls. If there even was anything to be suspicious about, the security detail patrolling the area would have been the first ones to inform the organizers that they needed to perform a check. And yet it's been over a decade of ACG events and not a single incident such as this had ever happened, until this year that is Whatever it maybe, it is clear that there's someone out there who has it in for various well-connected individuals in the local ACG scene, it's just a matter of who and how many of such people |
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XerneasYveltal
 Posts: 668 Location: Philippines |
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Such an incident could give foreign cosplayers a bad impression of what it feels like to be a guest at a convention in Malaysia if they have heard of it.
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Deacon Blues
Posts: 383 Location: Albuquerque, NM |
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No, it's not just the organizer who is at fault. Participants are equally as guilty for blindly following everything without doing research on their own and making sure everything is situated. As someone stated earlier, if you're going to a foreign country, you are expected to know every rule/law and what not on the books. As a tourist or visitor you cannot claim that you "didn't know." If anything, despite the fact that these cosplayers and judges were subjected to horrendous conditions, should have known to double check on a lot of things. Heck, if this person has been doing this stuff for 17 years and suddenly didn't need a specific type of documentation should've been a red flag. Even if they were told that "everything would've been taken care of" there should've been some check ups done leading up to this event. |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2258 Location: Online Terminal |
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Man, a lot of people seem to be shifting the blame off of the person who called the cops, more than likely to pursue their own agenda.
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AkumaChef
Posts: 821 |
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There is a HUGE difference between talking to a random convention staffer and an actual lawyer with expertise in this field. One is not a substitute for the other. You are 100% right that it wouldn't be cheap, and it does add another layer of hassle. @Joe Mello Obviously the corrupt scumbag who called the authorities in the first place is the main problem. But that said it's in everyone's interest, including your own, to do your homework before you travel anywhere, and to make sure you understand the law and have the requisite documentation so that you're less of a target for corrupt scumbags. It's no different than being extra-careful with your wallet or purse if you're traveling somewhere with a lot of pickpockets, being aware of tourist scams, having backup copies of critical documents, hiding your valuables, using secure passwords, etc. |
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