File photo of members of the public waiting for their turn to be served at the Immigration counter at Sibu Urban Transformational Center.
SIBU: Passport holders are urged to take greater care of their travel document to avoid action taken against them in future if they lose the valuable document.
In pointing this out, Deputy Home Minister Masir Kujat said passport holders must ensure the documents do not fall into the wrong hands, which may be open to abuse by irresponsible parties.
He gave this advice in response to Immigration Department director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali’s disclosure that the department has proposed for penalties to be imposed on passport owners who lose the document.
Mustafar reportedly said the proposal had been forwarded to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also Home Minister, adding that Ahmad Zahid had agreed on the proposal in principle and it was expected to be enforced after the government’s approval and amendments made under the Fees Act.
Masir reckoned that the proposed move was helpful to ensure passport holders exercise good care of their travel documents.
“They (passport holders) have to take care (of their passports), and make sure they don’t fall into the wrong hands, otherwise (certain irresponsible) people may abuse them (passports). So, it is very important that they take necessary steps on the safekeeping of their passports,” the Sri Aman MP told The Borneo Post yesterday.
According to Bernama, based on Immigration statistics, a total of 44,528 cases involving the loss of passports were reported nationwide last year.
Among the reasons for the loss of passports were forgetting where it was kept, left behind in public transport, slipped from bag or pocket, stolen or robbed, lost during a fire, moving house or due to natural disasters.
Meanwhile, Mustafar was further quoted as saying that so far there was no penalty imposed on those who have lost their passport compared to those with lost identity cards who are fined for losing their document for the first, second and third time.
At present, the fees imposed for the loss of identity cards for the first time is RM100, second time is RM300 and for the third and subsequent ones, RM1,000.
Mustafar also said passport owners should be more responsible in taking care of their passports as it was a document with high value and involved costs to the department.
The director-general was reported to have disclosed this at a media conference after delivering his New Year address at the department’s monthly gathering in Putrajaya recently.