SIBU: The Ministry of Home Affairs is studying the possibility of introducing tougher actions to ensure passport holders take good care of their travel documents.
Its deputy minister Masir Kujat said the study may include actions like imposing suspension for a certain period of time for those who lost their passports.
“So far we have not done that (stiffer action) yet. Maybe in the long-run if the public (citizens) are not careful, where they keep on losing their passports – so, either they (holders) be suspended for like six months or one year. Meaning, you are not allowed to be issued new ones.
“(But) we don’t know yet because we have not looked into it yet. Our ministry will study (the possibility of coming up with) these heavier penalties to ensure people are more careful with their passports and do not lose them (as these are security documents),” Masir told thesundaypost yesterday.
The Sri Aman MP was asked if the ministry had any plan to introduce tougher actions against those who lost their passports due to carelessness.
During a press conference in Kuching recently, state Immigration Department director Ken Leben disclosed that this year the agency recorded an average of seven missing or lost passports per week, though some of them were found to be expired.
Ken was quoted to have advised the people to take good care of their passports, especially the ones that have expired, because owners would need to produce their previous travel documents when applying for a new one.
“Please take care of your passport considering that it is not an individual property but a government document. The scenario is that when individuals renew their passports, they to produce their previous papers. Majority of these individuals claim their passports were misplaced or that they could not find them anymore.
“They took for granted that since the travel document had expired, there is no use for it anymore. Keep in mind that ignorance of the law is not an excuse because the government will investigate every case of lost passport,” Ken reportedly cautioned, saying that owners of missing passports would have to make a police report.
On this, Masir said: “In order to prevent any further loss of passports when we are not careful maybe, we will study that part (coming up with heavier penalties).”
Concerning border security, he said among others the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex (CIQ) could help in curbing smuggling.
He disclosed that there were CIQs that had been approved in principle but were yet to be built pending funding.
He said in time to come, manpower at the Sarawak and Sabah borders would be increased, adding that presently they were making good the available resources in strengthening border security.