Screenshots

I got mine renewed recently at Block K Pusat Bandar Damansara. Very impressed. eRenewal took less than 20 minutes including getting instant photos at the block across. No forms to fill. Just scan current passport, MyKad, fingerprint, verify personal details onscreen and pay. Next day collection.

"When asked again why it takes so long, she said KL are SHORT-HANDED in processing passport renewal!"

You see the immigration dept don't want to employ the unemployed grads that the government uni/college produced. So they prefer to remain "short of staff".
This is how they mess up this country. One might just wonder whether they are patriotic or not?

As for why our passport is generally not recognised for visa waiver, simple - too many Malaysians parachuted to these countries illegally to work.

If one applies for a new passport you have to photocopy your MyKad and personally present the document with the original MyKad to the officer. If your child is under 18 years, he/she has to bring the original MyKad,birth cert and photocoty both doc too and submit in person. The official guardian or father must be present and have to show the original MyKad too. What is so useful and superior with the electronic technology in MyKad?

We cry loud and long about the granting of PR to those from neighbouring countries who come to Malaysia for a 'better life' and the education of their children. Countries like NZ give PR relatively easily to people like this, and there are many, though it is not unusual for them to complain loudly when they meet typical Malaysian bureaucracy such as this. Forgive me for suggesting that, if you can afford to holiday in Canada, then how difficult would it be to swing by Malaysia to renew the passport and get the visas here as well. Even if it takes a week or so, have a holiday here, see the relatives, eat some good Malasyian food.

Dear LLtwigs.. thanks for your suggestion. We are actually going to vist our daughter in Canada and that alone will cost me a small fortune and you are asking us to COME BACK to renew our passports? Do you know how much that will cost us? We DO try and come back every year. Do you see my money grow on trees? :-) Anyway, our passports only got less than 6 months and cannot travel... that sucks!

Well cyleow, you're stuck between a rock and a hard place! Either you save money and put up with Malaysian bureaucracy, or you spend more and save time, since Maalysia is the only place you can travel to on a passport with less than 6 mths left.

Another thing... just think of it, to make sure your "old" passport can still travel you will have to "renew" it four months b4 the 6 months none travel date! Sucks!

Folks

There is an undercurrent sickening attitude among the bureaucrats in the Malaysian High Commission around the world, not only in NZ, that discriminate blatantly any Malaysian citizen that has on its passport the word Permanent Resident of another country.

They deliberately try to make your life as miserable as they can when you go and see them for help. They don't recognise you as a citizen of Malaysia.

You see, they were brought up through a school and university education and through poliltical that see Malaysians in a narrow and parochial view.

So, if you are a Malaysian and happen to be in a foreign land in which there is chaos and need to be evacuated, God help you, because the Malaysian High Commissions overseas will NOT help you. If they can't even facilitate your passport renewal, how would you expect them to take you out of life-threatening situation.

The problem is the Govt and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is taking a blind eye on this. Sometimes, many Malaysians overseas feel maybe there is soemthing wrongwith their names that they are being treated not as second-class citizens but as an alien.

Something rotten had been going on in Malaysian High Commissions overseas for far too long when dealing with expatriate overseas and Pak Lah's Cabinet got to fix this.

Wierd.. when i did my passport renewel in new york, it took less then 10 days.

If you think the term 'Permanent Resident' sends shivers down the Malaysian Govt spine, try 'Dual Citizenship'! To date nearly half the countries in the world recognise such a concept, which is beneficial in many ways, largely economic. India is one, and anyone who can prove Indian ethnicity is able to claim this right. Except Malaysian Indians of course, as this would strike fear of disloyalty into the hearts of those who are our leaders.

apparently its not the same for everyone. So there are still some 'cancerous cells' in the government offices worldwide who screw things up.

US never actually recognised our 'smart' passport from day 1 isnt it? So much for technology, what was the safest passport ever can still be doubted because its not actually safe or doest it have to do with some other issues?

Short-handed...then why do they never give job for all those thousands of SPA interviewees?

I got my British passport renewed recently in KL, it took me a grand total of 5 days, start to finish, the exact time it said it would take on the website.

Sorry..CY..different folks,,different strokes..

.maybe if you have a tan sri or dato' to your name,,it might make a difference. Would these people take as much time as you did???

Just look at the speedsters featured in malaysiakini report(http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/53643)

Some summons for speeding go as far back as 10- 15 years...and the police did not go knocking at their doors in the middle of the night. These big shots cannot be that difficult to catch.

That is Malaysia Boleh for you..

Since NZ is under commonwealth, why don't Cyleow using Kiwiland PR status to get the Canada VISA?

I am amazed and thankful for all your SUPPORT and kind words. Obviously different Malaysian Hi Com do things differently? Our previous passport "renew" were done in Wellington Malaysian Hi Com itself and ONLY took 3 weeks. Sorry Moo, no can do; the Canadian look at what passport you got, if you got Kiwi passport then no need visa. PR not good enough. The weird part is that you have to include your parents, bothers and sisters names and addresses even though u are just applying for a visiting visa! Go figure! Somehow now I understand why so many ex Malaysians took up NZ citizenships and I suppose they are look on as "traitor" by some? ;-)

Twice I have had my wife and kids fly back to Malaysia urgently giving them under 12 hour notice. What happens if that you, CY Leow, are caught in such a situation? This is why my 12 year old is now here to get her MyKad done so that when renewal of her passport is due next year she will have all her papers. Next question for me is whether to do the renewal in Wellington...a 9 hour drive away from where they are, or to come back for a short holiday, same time next year.....Bloody hell that will be expensive man...but I can already see Idris Jala smiling!

Hello... Observer... your kids are 9 hours drive to Wgtn Hi Com but I am 9 MINUTES DRIVE away! But they still send ALL PASSPORTS back to KL to be done. Still THREE MONTHS. Do they fly them by kites or what? Ha ha ha..

Hi - on the contrary, it was sweet as renewing my passport at the wellington High Comm around a year ago.

Went in at 9am in morning, fill in relevant forms, and after a few hours wait, was able to collect my passport in the afternoon after 2pm.

I wasn't the only one doing my passport as there were at least 10 others.

Hence for me, I rate it a 5 star. :P

JEFF OOI says: BTW, jyst curious, a your an NZ PR?

Folks

Here is the address and phone numbers of the Malaysian High Commission in NZ

New Zealand
High Commission of Malaysia in Wellington
http://myperwakilan.mfa.gov.my/au/wellington/
10 Washington Avenue Brooklyn, P.O. Box 9422, Wellington, New Zealand
Tel: +64 4 385 2439, Fax: +64 4 385 6973

These names could be outdated as these tax-payers funded bureaucrats get promoted too often for doing less instead or more for expatriate Malaysians :

High Commission for Malaysia
Head of Mission: His Excellency Dato' Sopian bin Ahmad, High Commissioner
10 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, Wellington
Postal Address PO Box 9422, Wellington
Telephone +64 4 385 2439 / +64 4 801 5659 Facsimile +64 4 385 6973
Email mwwelton@xtra.co.nz
Office Hours Mon - Fri 0900 - 1300, 1400 - 1700hrs

Consulate of Malaysia, Auckland
Vacant

Consulate of Malaysia, Christchurch
21 Leslie Hills Drive, Riccarton, Christchurch
Postal Address PO Box 2043, Christchurch
Telephone +64 3 341 7599 Facsimile +64 3 341 8280
Email consulate@masthead.co.nz
Office Hours Mon - Fri +64 900 - 1700hrs

They spend more time on golf courses.

Folks

One more thing:

You can never be more embarrassed as a Malaysian living overseas when you try to tell your hosts how helpful your own Malaysian Embassy or High Commission. You don't feel like being called a Malaysian when you think about those uppity-nose damn bureaucrats working in our overseas diplomatic missions, especially in Australia and New Zealand. They think Malaysians owe them their job as public servants getting all the overseas assignment perks and privileges, attending those dinners and functions.

I am so glad this has been brought up. I have had the worst experience with Malaysian Embassies overseas. Where? USA.

USA is the worst. They do not have a website....can you believe this??? Malaysian Embassy in USA does not have a website....how embarassing this is.

I wanted to renew my passport and they said that I have to send a snail mail letter requesting the application form and also include a Return mail envelope with stamp (SASE) AND they ask me to send US$1 for the forms (This was few years back so im not sure on the exact amount).

My wife is from India and since I have to travel to India, I have used the services of the Indian Consulate. How do i rate it? 11 out of 10. Yup, it was that good.
Indian consulate websites overseas are amazong. They are so informational and have all the application forms with the detailed steps. Everything can be done by mail, and you can call to enquire status.

Idiots in Malaysia want to spend billions and billions of ringgit over bridges, cancelling bridges, purchase, selling of motorcycle companies but cannot even freaking have a Malaysian consulate website in the US that will cost them less than RM$5000 to build. The country's priorities have gone to the DOGS.

Oh yeah, one more thing.....u should hear the way those guys in the Malaysian consulate in NY talk over the phone....like talking kat kedai kopi...not professional at all.

Oh yeah...forgot to mention...since it was such a hassle to renew/replace my passport in the US (I was carrying the non-chip type passport)....I actually flew down to KL and went to Subang Airport to apply for a new one! I am serious.....

The day I had gone to Subang airport to get a new passport....the lines were not long....maybe around 10 people....but this impatient guy goes to the window of the counter and tries to talk to the head guy to give his passport without lining up. The head guy said line is so short...why dont u line up...." they kept talking...finally the immigration guy took his passport......

i thought to myself......
bapak borek (malaysian immigration in Malaysia), anak rintik (Malaysian consulate overseas).

Speaking of the lack of website, I believe the Msian embassy here in Tokyo do not have one either.

Shortly upon arriving Tokyo to work, I submitted an registration form to the embassy by snail mail, providing them my particulars and contact information for emergency or any other matters.

Guess what, until today, I didn't get a single reply from the embassy, not even an acknowledgement of my registration.

Guess I shall not count on them to search for me should an earthquake occurs here (touch wood!)

i was in sydney for 10 years, came back to malaysia (the better part of it) 10 years ago. had to visit the malaysian high comm twice to renewed my passport during my stay there. once, i was asked to wait while a nice lady ran around to get the datuk to sign it and a returned the renewed passport to me in less than two hours. the 2nd time, i was asked to go back the next day because the datuk was out, so i toured canberra on bike and spent a night in the yough hostel. both trips were pleasant, as i was reminded again during my 1st visit back to canberra in 10 years just a month ago....
a relative working and living in auckland just came to visit and stayed a few nights in our house. she is a nz pr, been there for 15 years (as she reminded us in a conversation), still holding a pre-smartchip malaysian passport. she went to apply for a new passport yesterday morning here and got it the next day, this morning, before flying out to sabah a couple of hours ago.
i no bs you. may be you pray to the wrong gods...

Hello Jeff,

Yes, I am a NZ PR - been so for last 12 years.

And yes, passport renewal at Wellington High Comm has never been an issue - be it my own experience or my friends. Just had to fly in to Wellington for weekend, since I don't live there.

p/s Love reading Screenshots :P

Ha ha ha.... look like I opened A BIG CAN OF WORMS! Here we are acl30 (too chicken to reveal real name) talking nonsense, trying to DO DAMAGE CONTROL for our Wellington Hi Com! Then a Isk, taking in divine intervention! I feel sad for Malaysia, instead of FACING UP what has gone wrong and fix it they bull shit on!
Hello... all the high up hi com workers please take note, you are our civil SERVANTS, go check out what that means! I rest my case.

uncle leow, i am no fan of malaysian public service in general, wrt this discussion on passport applications, i just told it as i have experienced and seen it. if that disagree with your experiences, i don't believe it warrants you launching personal attacks. if you are so damn high up there perhaps you will consider either (i) dropping your malaysian citizenship, or (ii) come back to malaysia so we'll see who is too chicken to use our real names. furthermore, perhaps it is rather presumptuous to assume you have opened a can of worm just bcoz your have worms crawling out your back orifice. may i suggest it would be wiser to keep quite if your butt is feeling itchy.

My daughter lives in the Bahamas. She was advised to send her passport to Washington. Then she was told she should send it to London. Her s-i-l handcarried it to London. When her passport expired London office said she must come back to KL. But to come back to KL she has to get an Emergency Certificate. I met Datuk Azmi, then the Minister, at Parliament. I got the EC the next morning from Putra Jaya. Note: try emailing Washington DC. They do not know how to email yet.

My sister timed her trip from USA to get her passport done. Because we did it in Miri, it was easy to get it done really fast as there was less hassle.

According to her and my Mum, it's a real hassle dealing with the Malaysian Embassy in the USA. The recommendation that they got from them was to actually come back here to do their passports as the process is a lot faster.

Wow
Seems like I am not the only one who had a bad experience with the Malaysian High Commission.
I am a Malaysian staying abroad and needed their help to apply for my daughter’s visa. They messed up the application and gave me the runaround for a few days. I sent an email to them complaining about their service.
Next thing I know, they sent me an intimidating email threatening to withdraw my Malaysian passport and citizenship!!!
Malaysia boleh!!!

Plus, I did not even care to tell you the experience of my wife trying to get a Malaysian tourist visa at the Malaysian Consulate in New Delhi.

Put it this way, The Malaysian Consulate overseas ARE NOT interested in promoting tourism. They are just interested in getting their gaji buta, feeling important like a diplomat, and maybe, if they feel like it, they will process a few visas a day....oh no....it's 10:00 am (time for breakfast)...oh no, its noon (time for lunch), oh no...its 3pm (time for kopi/teh)...oh no...it's 4:15 pm....time to kemaskini my desk and prepare to go home.....

"may be you pray to the wrong gods..."

lsk,,,,what has god to do with the civil service?

Can explain please..does it means if you pray to jesus,,you don't get passport service...

since when is religion a criteria for getting a passport on time..??

New regulation?? Last time i saw the renewal form..I don't remember any column on religion.

Enlighten us please....

Careful now Art Chan, he might take that as ANOTHER "personal attack" ;-)

I think there is a difference between the "high tech" chip based passport, and the old "paper based" one. To renew the newer passport, it will need to be sent back to Malaysia for processing, as the HCs/Embassys do not have the mechanics for producing one. Note you cannot RENEW these passports, you will be issued a new one.

On the other hand, the old paper passport is low tech, and can be renewed once, for another 5 years. This the HCs can do easily, as it will just need varification from KL , and manual endorsement on the passport.

This can explain the difference in the experiences of Malaysian abroad in renewing the passports.

Finally, if you have interfaced with Malaysia beaurocracy before in Malaysia, you will understand why the HCs are also like that. Same mould. Being in a different, usually more efficient and civil society heightens you awareness of the difference. For the rest of us here? Biasa lah, semua okay.....

Thank you limeuu, you are absolutely right... few years ago our low tech passports were replaced in Wellington, a three weeks wait. Thats OK. Now to get our "Hi Tech" passports, they are to be done in KL... fine, but do you NEED THREE MONTHS? What cheese me off is the EXCUSES the officer at the hi com gave... "oh, yours will be even longer because you miss the "bag"... we only send them once a month." "Oh... you know we are very short handed in KL." HELLO!

As much as we cry inefficiency in the system and trying to tolerate their self-proclaimed first class service as a good citizen, 4 months to renew a passport is simply outrageous. I cant help laughing as I recall our DPM was calling the civil servant to be more efficient in one of the speech given to te public (somewhere sometime last week and goes something like this, translated) "If it is supposed to take 4 months, and we can make it into 2 months over even 1 months, that is effiency, etc."

But to give them the credit, the immigration in KL and even Kelantan, passport renewal process is next day service.

But having stayed in US for 4 years, I do vaguely remember that it can take a long while to renew a passport (months) which prompts me to renew it quickly on my way back to Malaysia for holidays. Else, I may have yet another genuine story to join in the discussion.

As for the passport chip, I dont think I trust the system- I had a chipped passport and renewed here, with the old one still having my US visa. So, I had both of them and place them conviniently over the machine for checking out to US. I realize something is wrong as they showed a picture of my old passport, which is supposed to be expired/ terminated!! The problem is confirmed when I got home from US as I cannot pass through the gate and had to get it done manually by the lady. No hassle but I wonder what is my official status?

Anyways, cyleow, I hope your renewal goes on smoothly.

PS: Art-chan, religion is an issue, it is stated in the passport. You need to see it under the UV light and you can read it out. Supposed to be a classified information.

art, it is "gods" not "god". some chinese have this saying that your luck sucks because you pray to the wrong gods or put your jost sticks at the wrong places. if anyone read it as your god against their god, you definitely have read it wrong. i'll just blame it on culture differences...
for a more contemporary interpretation, the gods you pray to determine the way you deal with life's challenges and people around you. for example: i know people who have problems with every indon maids they have, yet others seldom, if ever, have problems. perhaps the problem is not [just] with the maids but with the employers too?

JEFF OOI says: All of the above paragrah is IRRELEVANT to this blog topic. Please stay focussed and waste NOT our precious bandwidth on jester.

before my recent trip overseas i went to the jpj in miri (yes wena, i'm in miri too!) to get an international driving permit. the young man who handle my application was grumpy and sour-faced, didn't even give a friendly response to my customary "good afternoon". since i've stopped praying to a god that teaches an-eye-for-an-eye, i maintained my clowny smile all the time instead of response in kind. it was near closing time, i was the only customer left, but i came fully expecting to have to come back again, so i asked "bila boleh ambik?" he responsed with a rather curt "tunggu lah", so i sat there at the counter looking at him filling up the booklet, cropped the photo, chop chop sign sign, brought it to his senior officer in the back office for signature and handed the booklet over 15min later. in my book, that's good service.

so perhaps it's worth considering either (i) come to miri or (ii) try praying to different gods.

JEFF OOI: The next time I see this I will get that deleted, and if I am feeling too tedious of such abuse, I will just do the needful. Be civil and stay on topic. You must commit to the basic human rights that in this diverse world culture, there are people who DON'T pray to god, let alone "gods".

Oops... now I know where my mistake lies! I am a FREE THINKER! OMG! :-)

Anyone knows whether the eRenewal is available 24 hours, Mon to Sun?

jeff, i don't believe you don't get the point. if you just need an excuse to go around what you preach, why bother? it's your blog. you can do whatever you like as much as what the owner of nst do with the paper. no?

JEFF OOI says: I want to stay focussed on my specific blog topic, hence I won't glorify you by following your drooling. Let me reiterate: This blog topic, specifically on the hassles of renewing Malaysian passports as residents overseas, has no express relevance to god or gods that you asked them to pray to. Secondly, you have to respect basic human rights that NOT all people pray to god, let alone gods, which you insisted.

hello

i bumped into your blog upon researching on renewing my msian passport in canada. what a pain! it takes 10-12 weeks.there is no website to refer and there is only 1 high comm to serve canada. my husband renewed his canadian passport in malaysia and took him only 7 days!

I have been living in Kiwiland for many years now. As mentioned in previous posts, besides the M'sian High Com in Wellington, there is a M'sian High Consulate each in Auckland and Christchurch. However, these Consulates appear to have very limited power to do anything, except for renewing an existing passport where you are allowed to certify all documents at the Consulate then send in your application by post to the High Com in Wellington. And that's all they can help you! When it is time to collect your passport, you cannot even collect it at the Consulate; you either send a courier bag to Wellington and have it posted to you at your own risk and cost, or collect personally there. That's fine if I stay in Wellington. But living outside of Wellington I will have to fly there.

My children were born here and in order to register their births, I have to bring them (infants) personally to the High Com. Nope, I can't have the baby and documents verified at my local Consulate. The 'lady-in-charge' in Wellington have to see the babies. What the heck? I have to fly the whole family to Wellington just in order to get their birth registered. What is the use of having a local Consulate? White elephant??? My friend (a non-M'sian) applied a NZ passport for his newborn, and guess what? He did not even need to bring the baby for the authority to see because verification of who the baby is can be done by either Justice of Peace... and even school teacher! Is NZ passport so worthless compared to a simple M'sian birth registration? Does NZ authority not exercising due diligence? I dun think so. The High Com is only creating hassles and hurdles for fellow M'sians. On top of these, I think they have serious trust issues with the local Consulates. Are the local Consulates not to be trusted wholly? Why is certain verification accepted but not the others? What is the logic behind?

Comparing apple to apple, the NZ birth registration can be done in a breeze without any hassles at all. Not even a photo of the baby is needed (M'sian one needs two specific passport size with blue background!!!)! All that is needed is to fill in the form, send it in with credit card details for payment and a few days later the birth cert arrives! Easy as that. Do they need to see the baby? Nope. NZ is one of the OECD countries while M'sia is still a developing country. This difference in approach and efficiency dully reflects the underlying state of developments in both countries. Sigh!

Getting a new passport need 3 to 4 months’ time? I wonder if they send this back and forth using kayak pedalled by the High Commissioner? What the crap? Even our troubled neighbouring country, Indonesia, with far more populations, can process a new passport while-you-wait at their Wellington Embassy. No bull here. You submit the application in, wait for at most 30 mins, and there you are, a newly minted passport! I was with my Indonesian friend when he did his and I can't believe that a new M'sian pasport need so long??!! Talking about amanah, CEKAP dan germilang, CRAP would sound more like it!

Official hassles aside, there is then the impersonal, unfriendly, you-owe-me attitude of some of the 'ladies-in-charge' at the High Com who take in the applications. I must admit some are nice and friendly, but some are downright 'kurang ajar', dumping 'amanah and bersopan-santung', perhaps on their flight here, thinking that they are High Com staff now, so HIGH that they can LOOK DOWN on fellow M'sians. Do they not get fed? Do I not pay for the application fees which I trust go towards paying portion of their gaji? Why are they behaving like this? Are they jealous of our status (NZ PRs)?

My impression of the High Com in Wellington is that it does not instill, let alone stir, a sense of belonging, patriotism, honour among the rakyat visiting it, but the opposite sentiments. Is this the purpose of having a High Com overseas - To piss fellow M'sians off so that they give up their citizenship?

Only God knows the answer.

(I have chosen not to reveal my true identity for fear of retribution from the authority and to protect my family)