A merry-go-round of excuses

Long wait: The crowd waiting inside the Immigration office in Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya. – ART CHEN/The Star

PETALING JAYA: The passport renewal saga continues to frustrate many as people join long queues and voice confusion over what they need to do at the Immigration Department.

Many folk are walking in, with hopes of renewing their passports, but are ending up with a long wait just to get the job done.

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Software architect Kevin Ong, 33, from Kuala Lumpur began his passport collection journey at 9am yesterday at the Jalan Duta office. He was handed his document only at 4.15pm.

Ong had already filled up his details online and paid the necessary sum but was still left clueless as to what else was needed.

“They gave me the number at 9.20am but I was still waiting to collect my passport despite having made the payment and showing them the receipt.

“They had informed people that they only had 40 numbers to give out and there were two counters which catered to different services at the counters.

“There is no way to tell if your number is next because everyone is performing different transactions, so the call can be random,” he said.

Ong added that there was no indication of what was supposed to be done, as the department seemed like “a headless chicken” that was just going about aimlessly, and not fulfilling the task at hand.

Public relations executive Fazilah Kamal, 29, from Ampang was told to go back home as the queue would stretch for hours.

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She said an officer came out to make the announcement as the department already had 50 people with appointments still waiting in line.

“We were there around 8.15am and the queue was already long. The officers were allowing people to come inside in batches.

“They were understaffed as it was still Hari Raya. So they informed people that it may take a longer time if we continued to wait. They said we may not be able to get our passports by the end of the day.

“So after two hours, I decided to head back because they were still prioritising those with appointments and accepting only a limited number of walk-ins,” she said after her frustrating experience at UTC Keramat.

Writer YC Meng, 53, from Petaling Jaya, turned up at the Kelana Jaya Immigration office for his 10am appointment yesterday, but was shocked to see a snaking queue out of the small office that went all the way to the building lobby.

He said the crowd included many people who turned up without appointments.

“I decided that it would take way too long, and went home to complete other tasks first, before returning there after lunch. The post-lunch crowd looked well under control (no one was seen queuing outside the building), and I was able to walk out with my new passport close to 5pm,” he said.

Meng credits the officer manning the reception counter for his patience in explaining to members of the public on how things are currently done at his department.

During his visit he also overheard that someone actually turned up at 4.45am yesterday without an appointment to secure a queue number for the day.