Why are Malaysian passports expensive?

2009/08/03

WHY is it that our passports have become so expensive? It costs RM300 for a five-year passport. I recently renewed my maid's passport at the Indonesian embassy and it only cost me RM18 for three years.

I was so stunned that I had to ask the counter staff how much it was again and whether I needed to pay for anything else.

If a country like Indonesia can charge such a small amount, why can't we do the same? Are we paying for the microchip that is embedded in the passport?

I'm sure most Malaysians would agree that they do not want the chip if it's going to cost so much. After all, the chip only lightens the load of the Malaysian Immigration officers as they do not have to check the passports.

Furthermore, if the argument is that we do not have to wait in queue for too long at Kuala Lumpur International Airport as the chip ensures quicker access, most of the time, there are hardly any queues so the passports can be checked quickly anyway.

This chip is only useful in Malaysia and nowhere else.



Why does the ordinary citizen get taxed even when he wants to go on a holiday? For an average family of four, the cost of passports alone is RM1,200 and we have not even stepped out of the country. Besides, some countries require us to have entry visas which cost money, too.

Again, people may say that we should "Cuti-Cuti Malay-sia" and support domestic tourism. I don't think our tourism industry is suffering. Aren't the hotels registering full occupancy during holiday seasons? Don't we even have a choice of where we want to travel some of the time?

If the government wants to charge RM300 for each passport as a way to discourage people from travelling overseas, it is a strategy that is clearly not working. The number of people travelling overseas has increased, not decreased.



At the end of the day, the people being penalised are not from the middle and high-income groups who still travel regardless, but the low-income group. The latter might want to travel once in a lifetime for a pilgrimage or to visit relatives.

J. SINGHSubang Jaya