You may have seen the ads on television already. The Immigration Department of Malaysia can now do fast and convenient passport renewals over the Internet.
This online renewal service was actually launched in 2012, but in late October 2013, it was suspended, with no news about what has happened or when it would be back online.
What happened?
To make matters worse, the usually speedy passport renewal and new application systems seem to have been knocked back to the Stone Age! These days, one can see long queues of human beings at immigration offices, which often can reach into the hundreds.
What is happening?
In the past, it would take about an hour to renew one’s passport. With the self-service kiosk, it would take only 30 minutes to get it done. One just has to come back 3 hours later to collect the new travel document and be on their merry way finishing up their business for the rest of the day.
But, the experience I had recently, is a total far cry from how it used to be. I had to actually take two and half days of leave, and stayed at the Hartamas immigration branch just to get my passport renewed!
After all the tax payers’ Ringgit invested into making the passport application/renewal system and process faster and more efficient, why are we experiencing such long and horrendous waiting times?
A legal travel document is a basic right of the Rakyat, and yet we are left not only totally helpless about the matter, but totally in the dark about what has happened and totally clueless as to when we can have back the usual quick turnaround time we have come to expect from the Immigration Department of Malaysia.
What in the world is happening?
IT BYTES BACK! says: Was there a fire sale of air tickets? Is there a sudden explosion of Malaysians who suddenly wish to travel overseas? Or is our government digging deeper into their pockets to pay for upkeep of sophisticated systems, and coming up short?
