THE failure of the Government to phase out MyTravelPass is a clear-cut example of an incompetent administration bent on making life difficult and miserable for the people

I held two press conferences last week to make a plea on behalf of many Malaysians, whose lives were severely and unnecessarily inconvenienced, and made miserable by a MyTravelPass policy, which has outlived its usefulness.

Since the press conferences, I have received even more emails from ordinary Malaysians complaining about the slow and bureaucratic process. 

I was hoping, with positive signals coming from those in Government, that MyTravelPass will soon be scrapped, instantly resolving the tens of thousands of applications currently awaiting approval from the Immigration Department.

However, the announcement made by the Immigration Department yesterday evening fell far short of what Malaysians were hoping for.

The announcement added several categories of applicants who no longer require MyTravelPass approval to leave the country. They include:

• Emergency matters relating to death and critical illness
• Participating in sports events, meetings and seminars
• Meeting spouses overseas, but only if the marriage is not registered in Malaysia, and
• Participating in humanitarian missions overseas.

While the exemption of the above categories of people from MyTravelPass is welcome, they failed to include at the very least, the most important category, which are for people who have secured employment overseas.

By persisting with the slow and bureaucratic process for this overlooked category, the livelihood of thousands of Malaysians, and their families are put in jeopardy.

Let me read some of the pleas from the complainants here:

Tearful fiancée

I am X from Pontian, Johor. My fiancé is from Punjab, India. We have been away from each other for the past 18 months plus.

We were supposed to: register our marriage on April 27, 2020 at JPN Pontian, Johor, then celebrate our wedding week in Kuala Lumpur on June 24-28, 2020.

Please try to understand the mental health of us Malaysian long-distance relationship couples as well.

Even for safety reasons, a fiancé and fiancée should not be forced to separate for too long, especially if they all have received two doses of vaccine no matter which countries of origin and whatever their vaccine brands.

I really would like to appeal to all the authorities and government officials to please allow international travel between countries for us all to be reunited with our partners, couples, spouses, families and loved ones across countries as soon as possible, especially with ‘flexibility’ for those who have already been fully vaccinated for both incoming and outgoing travel.

Please do make the traveling SOP, guidelines, rules and regulations easy, simple and direct.

This pandemic and lockdowns have made it impossible to meet, with all the MyTravelPass hassle, ‘Sistem Temujanji Online’ long periods awaiting appointments, no replies to emails and no phone calls being answered by officers in charge, especially to explain the unclear documentation and confusing process for a long-term social visit pass.

Please hear us out, please acknowledge our tears. It has been really too long and extremely difficult to be cooped up at home.

We are all here waiting every single day for the light at the end of the tunnel and good news, which would bring some relief and lots of happiness to us amid the ongoing pandemic.

Frustrated employee

We submitted the application on September 6, 2021. We don’t know what has happened to it since then.

It has been too long for approval and there is no guarantee of it either. If it is rejected, we don’t know how much time we will need to waste to reapply.

It is urgent because it is an overseas project way behind schedule. We sent many queries to the Immigration Department and KDN Sistem Pertanyaan Online but they just ask us to be patient.

Can’t get to headquarters

I work in Robert Bosch as a technology specialist and have been summoned to perform fresh validation for machines early next month. I have submitted all the details as required but it is still pending approval.

The main point of this is we from the industry are now struggling to make this transfer happen and work will be affected.

Bear in mind, this will be good for hiring in future as well as further investment for this industry and the country to beat this pandemic.

I am stuck and have missed my flight tomorrow to headquarters in Germany for the trial and approvals.

I did get an extension but this is only valid for a week. Take note that there is less bureaucracy in Germany.

Dejected doctor

I am a medical doctor working for the Ministry of Health, and I’m deeply saddened and disheartened by the treatment given to me recently during my two visits to JIM Putrajaya Passport Department to enquire about my application for MyTravelPass.

My partner/fiancé is unwell due to deep vein thrombosis of the left lower limb, which carries a risk of causing pulmonary embolism and is currently undergoing acute treatment in France, where he is a permanent resident.

My first application for MyTravelPass was made on August 19 and when I went over to the Kawalan counter on September 3 at 10.30am.

At 4pm, a male officer came out to tell me that my application was rejected due to incomplete supporting documents.

That shocked me even further because I had been sitting right there in the waiting room since the morning and a simple courtesy of enquiring about the supporting documents could have solved the issue right there, as I brought all the original copies of the documents.

He told me to make a new application.

I left that office that day with tears in front of all the officers who looked at me without any empathy or humanity.

I felt heartbroken thinking as I served my patients so sincerely all these days, working day and night with such difficulty during this Covid pandemic, yet I can’t be there for my partner who needs me there now.

I made a new application with all the required documents again the same evening.

On September 6, I went again to the same office to beg again. This time the officer at the counter spoke to me so rudely, not willing to even listen to my explanation.

I had to tell her I am a doctor and to make her listen to me. I thought to myself: ‘if a professional who had been serving the country had to go through such poor treatment in a government office, I pity all those poor citizens for how they would be treated.’

After I kept begging her, she went in and came back to tell me that this is not urgent.

I am a medical doctor telling them that my fiancé has DVT and there she is (I wonder what her qualifications are) telling me to my face that it’s not urgent because the one suffering there is not my husband by marriage certificate.

To date, there have been no replies to the System Pertanyaan Online enquiries or emails sent.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob must have a heart and listen to the pleas of the people, who he claims to be part of Keluarga Malaysia.

At the very least, the government must immediately broaden the criteria for approval to include those with employment offers overseas, and for all spouses, fiancés, fiancées and partners, as well as to broaden the emergency applications to all caregivers, who may not be immediate family members.

More important, if the government is persisting with the obsolete MyTravelPass requirements, then the applications must be approved within the stipulated 14 days, and that if any application is not approved by then, an automatic approval is granted.

MyTravelPass was implemented at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 when travel abroad was deemed highly risky, especially when local infection rates were then extremely low and no vaccines were available.

However, the circumstances have changed dramatically and completely. Hence, there’s absolutely no reason to restrict Malaysians, particularly those who have been fully vaccinated, from travelling overseas as long as they are permitted to enter the destination countries.

Those travelling overseas will still be subjected to the required quarantine process upon their return to the country to prevent any imported infection from spreading locally.

Phasing out MyTravelPass is a critical component of Malaysia’s road to economic recovery as it will play a significant role in reviving our ailing travel industry, airlines, airports, travel agencies etc, which employ hundreds of thousands of workers.

We hope that the prime minister expedite the phasing out of MyTravelPass immediately, as a critical step towards economic recovery in the battered travel economic sector. – September 30, 2021.

* Press statement by Tony Pua MP

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.