MP: Reintroduce old fee for passport

The Government should reintroduce the old fee of RM150 for a five-year international Malaysian passport instead of having the alternative passport for RM100.

Bukit Bendera MP Liew Chin Tong said although the decision announced by Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein was a good start to lessen the burden of the people, he felt that the original fee was a much wiser decision.

Liew said it was due to the financial crisis in 1998 when the people were discouraged from travelling abroad that the fee for the international passport was raised to RM300 and RM600, valid for five years.

“But I think times have changed now and since Malaysia is at the crossroads of the east and west depending on trade, it will be better to just have a fixed rate of RM150 for the passports.

“This too will encourage the younger people to move around in the region to seek businesses,’’ he told a press conference at his service centre on Sunday.

Liew was commenting on Hishammuddin’s announcement that from Oct 1, Malaysians can apply for the alternative passport for RM100 which is valid for two years.

At the present moment, a 32-page passport costs RM300 and a 64-page document costs RM600.

Both are valid for five years.

Liew said if the government could just come up with one fixed fee, then the issue of additional workload for the Immigration Department would not arise.

The Star