Friday 19 February 2010

What a Joke

My passport was due for renewal.

My father took C and I to the Imigration Department yesterday to get our passports renewed through this automated passport renewal kiosk. Once current passport and identification card were verified, personal details checked, payment made, a copy of the identification card, current passport, and a current photo are put into an envelope and put into a slot in the kiosk. A receipt is printed out, and the passport would be ready for collection, in 2-3 hours' time, or the following day.

Today, we arrived at the department close to noon, waited for one and a half hours before our turn, C caught sight of my passport, and she told me it wasn't my photo stuck onto the passport renewal form. Sure enough, I took one look at the new passport, and some girl's face was smiling back at me.

I've heard of names misspelt, date of births mixed up, but identities mixed up? This is a first for me. The staff members repeatedly asked me if I put the wrong photo into the envelope, if that person in the photo was me... that girl and I do not even share similar features other than we're both Chinese!

Eventually the staff gave me RM8 to get my photo taken downstairs, during which I discovered I was given RM4 less (trust the Imigration Department to botch up the simplest of things). I was told to wait for my name to be called once I handed over my photo, then I was told to go back after having lunch, because "they have to re-do the passport, it's not as simple as fixing the photo". The officer took my documents into the office, no sooner than 5 minutes later, he walked out of the office in a leisurely manner, presumably to have his lunch, too.

The cheek of these people.


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