KOTA KINABALU: Residents living in Sabah's interior Pagalunan, which shares a border with Kalimantan in Indonesia, can obtain a special Malaysia-Indonesia Border Crossing Pass, known as Pas Menyeberang Sempadan (PMS), from May 1.

       Sabah Immigration Department director Sitti Saleha Habib Yusof said the residents in the border area can apply for the pass at the Pagalungan Immigration Control Post in the interior Nabawan district.

       "We are introducing the border pass for Malaysians living within 30km of the Indonesian border," she said during a weekend outreach programme by the department at Kg Pagalunan that borders Indonesia's Kalimantan.

       She said the border pass costing RM20 was only for Malaysians living within 30km of the Kalimantan border.

       For Indonesians, they would have to obtain a similar border pass - Pas Lintas Batas (PLB) - to travel into the interior area up to the interior of Keningau town, Saleha said.

       "Residents will no longer need to apply or use an international passport to go to Labang, Lumbis and Mensalong in Kalimantan which are within a radius of

       30km from the Malaysian border," he said.

       "The border pass will replace the international passport," she said in Kg Pagalungan about 200km from here.

       Saleha said the people's movements between the borders at Pagalungan was heavy due to various factors including family ties among communities on both sides of the border.

       She urged local communities in the area to apply for the border pass as a valid document to move between the two countries and to avoid arrests by authorities in Indonesia.

       Saleha also noted that with Indonesia's planned move of its capital to Kalimantan, Pagalungan could be an active area for cross-border movements as it was the closest point from Indonesia's main entry point of Labang and Bantul (Kalimantan).

       "We anticipate the Labang and Bantul routes will be the main routes from Kalimantan to Sabah via Pagalungan if the Indonesian capital starts operating in Kalimantan," she added.

       Saleha said that the gazetted international control posts for entry in Sabah's interior areas that border Kalimantan were Long Pasia (Sipitang district) and Pagalungan (Nabawan district).

       She said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin would officially launch the PMS later in May.