Puzzling situation: Abdul Malik holding up a letter of release from LHDN, which allows him to travel overseas. However, he still has not been able to get his passport. — Yee Xiang Yun/The Star
JOHOR BARU: For the past two months, he was given the runaround, going from Johor to Putrajaya and Selangor in his quest to apply for a passport.
Immigration officers had apparently told him that he had tax arrears and a supposedly ongoing court case.
Abdul Malik Abdullah’s exhausting attempt began on Oct 29 when he went to the Setia Tropika Immigration Department Complex here to get a passport but was told that his application could not be processed due to tax arrears with the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN).
Following instructions, he travelled to the LHDN office in Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur, where he paid an upfront amount with his savings, agreed to a monthly instalment plan, and obtained a letter of release allowing him to travel abroad.
“I returned to the Johor Baru Immigration office with the relevant documents, thinking the matter would be resolved, but I was informed that my application still could not proceed.
“The official told me that I have a supposed court case dated November 2004. He told me to go to the Immigration Department in Putrajaya to address the matter,” he said in an interview.
Abdul Malik, 69, made the trip by bus a few days later, only to be told there that he had an ongoing court case at the Selayang Court dated March 2006.
“I was puzzled. Why did these court cases, which I am supposedly involved in, have different dates?” he said.
Abdul Malik then went to the Selayang Court and the staff there said his name was not found in any record.
“To be certain, I also checked the Sessions Court, Magistrate’s Court and High Court in Shah Alam, as well as the courts in Johor Baru. There were no cases linked to me,” he said.
When he returned once again to the Immigration office in Johor Baru, Abdul Malik was told that the problem still lay with LHDN and the supposed “court case”.
“It is frustrating because I already have the necessary documents from LHDN and found no court cases under my name, yet there is no solution from the Immigration Department.
“I was looking forward to obtaining a passport to travel to Singapore to seek employment, as job opportunities in Johor Baru are limited at my age,” he said.
He explained that a friend of his in Singapore, who has a restaurant there, had indicated to him that he could have a job there.
Abdul Malik, a single father, said the few hundred ringgit he receives monthly from the Social Welfare Department was insufficient to cope with the rising cost of living.
Although his daughter provides some financial support, he said she has her own commitments as well.
“The prolonged process had taken a financial toll on me. I had borrowed money from friends to pay for the trips to Selangor using public transportation.
“It has been two months of being given the runaround, and I still don’t have answers,” he said.
When contacted, Johor Immigration director Datuk Mohd Rusdi Mohd Darus said he will meet Abdul Malik to better understand the matter.
“A meeting has been arranged for next week, and I will try to resolve his issue if the problem lies with my department.
“If it involves other agencies, we will have to find a solution together, as Immigration cannot bypass other systems,” he added.
