Just like the writer of ' Smart passport? What a day ', Crispina Chong, I am also another victim of the smart-chip passport renewal process.

I am currently holding a H1-B US visa and my passport will expire in June 2004. So I tried to be proactive and started the renewal process early September 2003.

I obtained the phone number of the General Consulate in New York and followed exactly what seems to be the most primitive way to submit my request. First, you have to call and listen to the operator's voice for instructions on how to obtain a request form, then you need to write to them and request for the request form (does that make any sense?).

Once the request form arrived, you will need to complete the laundry list including financing your own Fedex return shipping cost. I completed the list and mailed the package to the consulate last September. It's bad to have doubt in your own country's system, but I do, so I requested a mailing receipt from the mail courier but nobody from the consulate has ever sent me a confirmation.

Instead, I had to call to ask about its status. I was told that the renewal process would take approximately 30 to 40 days. Three months after I submitted my application, I called and asked for the status of the renewal. They said they had mailed my passport back to Malaysia because they have to issue me a brand new passport since mine has a 'smart chip' in it. Now that six months has passed, I am still waiting for my passport.

Recently my grandmother was hospitalised and I desperately needed to return. I called the consulate again and asked for a solution, but was told to repeat the same unproductive procedure: mail them a letter and request a form. Fill out the form and mail it back to request for the emergency certificate.

For someone who is as ill and old as my grandma, do you think it will still be necessary for me to go back after the tedious process? I am now stranded feeling miserable and frustrated.

Here are my concerns regarding the 'smart' passport:

• What are its real benefits? If the passport is really that 'smart', why can't the system just update the data in the computer chip without re-issuing me a new passport with new number?

• If the process takes as long as half a year, why do I need to finance my own return shipping cost with express mail courier? It will not make a difference.

• For an IT-advanced country like Malaysia, there is absolutely no excuse not to find a web programmer to develop an electronic submission system for overseas Malaysians.

Finally, I would like urge the immigration department to do an overhaul in the whole passport renewal process. Without any serious research and practical experiment, it should not be implemented at the jeopardy of citizens. Our country has done many things to show that we are of a hi-tech nation, but even simple registration processes such as the 'smart' passport and MyKad takes a whole village of labourers. Are we really that advanced?