Passport Renewal Fiasco For Malaysians In Australia

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A Malaysian passport may carry an intrinsic value for visa-free access to 179 countries. But for Malaysians in Australia planning to return home as travel restrictions ease up, renewing their passport is painfully frustrating.
A post on the Malaysian High Commission (Canberra) Facebook encapsulates this gastritis-fuelled angst: “I’m trying to get back to Malaysia to visit my dying father ... my passport is expired … I have tried calling the embassy multiple times with no luck.”
Thousands of Malaysian permanent residents with passports expiring this year were relieved – momentarily – that they could apply for a two-year extension at no cost.
A lengthy email from the immigration section of the Malaysian High Commission (Canberra) says this: “The policy was issued in June 2021, so (it's) only applicable to passports expiring from June to December.
“Passports with (two-year) extension are unable to be used for travelling overseas and also unable to be used for returning to Malaysia. Those who wish to submit for two years extension will need to apply for the (five-year) passport renewal on the same day.”
If that does not defy common sense it is certainly confusing.
What good is a two-year extension if it does not allow Malaysian residents to fly direct to Kuala Lumpur to renew their passports?
Given the runaround 
I called Canberra for clarification. After several attempts, I was redirected to an answering machine, which was disconnected after two minutes.
I turned to the High Commission’s Facebook. A messenger link said: “Our phone lines are being redirected to a standby line which has limited capacity.”
I emailed the immigration attaché Shafizawati Ahmad Shahar and acting High Commissioner Mohd Fareed Zakaria in Canberra. No reply for four weeks now after two follow-ups.
According to a consulate staff from Melbourne, the immigration sections in Canberra, Melbourne and Perth mission work under different team leaders. Hence, the ambiguous and puzzling information posted on its respective Facebook.
Although the High Commission and consulates receive their directives from Putrajaya, they operate independently from each other and, apparently, work towards different key performance indicators.
Notwithstanding that the Covid-19 lockdowns have compelled the consulates to operate with limited staff and technical support, Malaysian residents with expiring passports are kept lurking in an information vacuum.



There are no online updates on the number of pending applications or specifics on the waiting period, or if applications submitted in a Google form were ever received.
The High Commission has since moved from the archaic Google form to a newer Sistem Temujanji Online with the earliest available appointments in November 2022. Which is no help to permanent residents with passports expiring early next year.
Unlike an Australian passport, which can be renewed online and returned via registered priority mail, a Malaysian passport must be renewed, thumb-printed, and collected in person.
A mobile passport renewal unit set up by the Malaysian Consulate in Sydney on Nov 13-14 attracted within three days more than 2,000 applicants out of which only 200 slots were allocated, according to an immigration staff from the Melbourne Consulate.
At this time of writing, the Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia-Australia Facebook is inundated with frantic posts begging for similar mobile units to be set up in Adelaide and Brisbane.

Left in the dark 
The backlog and months of delays in the processing of passport renewals are by no means restricted to the Malaysian consulates in Australia.
Covid-19 work restrictions and lockdowns have led to similar backlogs in passport renewals and visa applications in Dhaka, the main source of migrant workers for Malaysia, Singapore, Dublin, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom.
The critical difference lies in the conflicting information provided by the Malaysian consulates and scant or no explanation on the surge in renewal applications received daily compared to the pre-pandemic period, or how many are cleared each day with limited staff, and the average waiting period for new passports to be issued.
While one recognises that the Malaysian consulates have been inundated with renewal applications since January, providing clear contextual information – and answering email or phone calls - would at least ease the pain of being smacked with an auto-reply that implies “don’t call us, we’ll call you – if we need to”. - Mkini

ERIC LOO is the founding editor of the academic journal Asia Pacific Media Educator.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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