Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail says the government will study the recent proposal to issue Malaysian passports with a 10-year validity based on the merits of such practice in other countries, but for now Malaysia will continue to maintain the five-year validity for its passports.
He was speaking to reporters during the Ministry's monthly gathering which coincided with the Madani government's first year of leading the ministry.
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He was speaking to reporters during the Ministry's monthly gathering which coincided with the Madani government's first year of leading the ministry.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 The proposal by the Immigration Union to renew passport for 10 years, is there any consideration?
00:09 For now, the status quo, we will evaluate the proposal based on merit and good practices of other countries.
00:19 I know that half of the countries have a passport issuance policy valid for 10 years, while our country still has 5 years.
00:28 Since we are moving towards that, for now, the status quo, whether we will continue to close the proposal or not, the answer is no.
00:38 So we will continue to investigate, see the adequacy and need for the status quo.
00:45 When I entered the office, we faced a complaint from the people who almost every day,
00:52 they were mocking us, what was it? The issue of passport issuance and the issue of corruption at the entrance gate,
01:00 especially KLIA and also the Johor area, was so much felt.
01:05 Therefore, for the past year, we have been looking for ways to see what steps can help to solve it.
01:15 Now, relatively, based on public opinion, the situation has been greatly reduced.
01:29 Both in terms of passport issuance and corruption.
01:33 We implemented several initiatives, for example, asking for a passport does not necessarily physically come to the immigration office.
01:43 Passport issuance can also be done via the Thailand government, and ready in 2-3 days.
01:49 We made that decision based on, first, out of 100 new passport applications,
01:58 actually, almost 45% are applications via the Thailand government.
02:04 55% of them come to the immigration office themselves.
02:09 So we encouraged the people to use the application channels as much as possible on Thailand.
02:16 We established several passport issuance offices around Lembah Kelang,
02:20 which offer the service of application only on Thailand.
02:24 That helps to reduce it.
02:27 Second, we also found that for every 100 passport applications,
02:32 when they get a passport, only 60% of them are valid. The other 40% are kept.
02:39 They are just a part of the process.
02:41 So the part of the process is sometimes even more angry.
02:45 When they get it, they don't even go.
02:48 We saw that character, we studied it,
02:51 when we want to make a policy, we usually analyze the data first.
02:57 So when we do that, we help to reduce it as much as possible.
03:01 The door to entry is also one of the things that I often go down to see for myself.
03:08 So one of the initiatives we made is an auto gate, not only for Malaysians,
03:13 we also open it for travellers from foreign countries,
03:17 especially countries with low risk.
03:20 It turns out that it helps a lot to relieve the uncertainty.
03:25 We have a contraband route, especially in Tambak Johor.
03:29 If it's at the peak, the route should be open,
03:34 but we allow it to be an entry route.
03:37 So this contraband route also helps to relieve.
03:41 We added a counter and we make sure that at the peak, there can't be an empty counter.
03:46 There must be an officer at the counter.
03:49 If the officers are not enough,
03:51 at the immigration training centre, when the training is over,
03:55 we put the officers in Tambak Johor and KLIA.
04:00 So we do this all year round.
04:03 Our immigration training centre ends every two months.
04:07 70 days.
04:10 70 days after the training.
04:13 After the training, the main thing is the two main entrances.
04:17 So when there is no shortage in terms of personnel,
04:20 all counters have people, especially at the peak,
04:24 plus the counter route, plus the auto gate,
04:28 it's no longer a small initiative.
04:31 We found that it helps to reduce the pressure.
04:37 And this is also highlighted in the annual Leaders' Retreat,
04:42 Malaysia-Singapore, which I also attended.
04:46 This is one of the things.
04:50 [Silence]