Tuesday August 29, 2006
Rush for passports in Penang
By CHRISTINA CHIN
PENANG: Thousands made a beeline for the state Immigration Department in Beach Street here following a report in a vernacular daily of a possible increase in passport fees from Sept 1.
The queue had stretched 500m from the department to the junction of Union Street as early as 6.30am yesterday.
From old women with canes to college students, most were there before sunrise to get their passports made before Sept 1, when the fees were expected to increase, according to the daily.
A man in his 60s said that he and his wife had been in the queue since 6am.
“I just heard on the radio that no official announcement had been made by the Government. But because of the story, there is this mad rush,” he said.
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MAD RUSH: Reacting to a speculative report on higher passport fees from Friday, thousands of applicants made a beeline for the Penang Immigration Department on Monday. - STARpic by K.T. Goh |
“I informed my teacher that I would be coming in late as I was getting my passport made together with my mum,” she said.
A caller who contacted The Star at 2.15pm alleged that despite standing in line since 7.30am, she had to come back today to get her passport application processed.
“I was even approached by unscrupulous touts who wanted to sell me their queue number for RM100,” she claimed.
A check by The Star showed that by about 11am, all queue numbers to process the maximum of 500 applications per day had been issued.
A National Immigration Department spokesman said the public should not believe the rumours of a fee rise.
“We have not received any Cabinet directive on any increase, so the report is unfounded,” he said.
“So far, it is only the northern states that have recorded an unusually high number of passport applicants today (Monday),” he said.
Most of those who turned up with their families said they came because of an article published in a Chinese daily last Wednesday.
The report stated that the cost of a passport was expected to increase from RM300 to RM500 for 32-page documents and from RM600 to RM1,000 for 64-page documents after the Budget 2007 is tabled on Friday.
A State Immigration Department usher said the line was quite long last Thursday and Friday, but there was an exceptionally large number of people yesterday.
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