The first time I visited the Damasara Immigration office was on April 11 at 6am in the morning. My daughter had visited this office one day earlier and was told that it was open in the morning of every Saturday and Sunday. The officer who managed the information counter informed my daughter that a passport will be issued two hours after payment.

For these two days, only 200 passports will be processed. It sounded good, so I took the trouble to be at the Immigration office on April 11. When I arrived, there was already a queue of about 50 people. I was confident that I would be possible to secure a passport. As usual, the office opened and admitted the people to the first floor counter to collect their queue numbers.

The issuing of the numbers went smoothly until about 15 or so applicants got their numbers then it stopped. It was about 8.35am. The public was informed of a ‘breakdown of a server’ at about 8.45 am and were informed to be patient. At about 9am, we were informed that the breakdown was worse then expected and it would not be possible to continue.

I left since it was not possible to know when the system would be up. Since I had to leave for Batam at 5pm from Muar, I decided to leave and prepare for my departure. On Saturday, April 17, I took the trouble to drive, starting at 3am to be at Damasara Immigration at about 5.45am. There were only a few of us at that time. As usual, we were admitted to the first floor at 7.55am. The first number was given and then the process stopped.

There were movements of officers at the counter and I found out that there was some problem with the issuing system. After about 15 or so minutes, the system was restored. I was given ticket number ‘1011', the 11 th applicant. Naturally, I was happy and confident that I would be receiving my passport the same day. My number was called at about 9.05am and I completed my application about 10 minutes later. I was told to wait to make payment.

Finally, I paid RM300 for a 48-page passport and was issued another ticket to collect the passport the next day, that is today, Sunday, April 18. I was surprised that the Immigration does not honor their commitment of issuing a passport after two hours. Since I was not in the mood to argue, I left.

On Sunday, I was at the Immigration at about 8am and already there were a long queue for passport collection. While waiting, I was told that only 200 passports would be issued. I was not worried as there were only 70 to 80 people ahead of us, far from the 200. Everything went smoothly when suddenly, I heard some commotion in the front.

It was the same issue, the system was down. About this time (9 am), the queue disappeared and everyone crowded around counter 17 and the crowd was having a heated argument with the Immigration officers. I saw one officer was making some calls through his cell phone and I guess he was calling for reinforcements. Correctly, five officers with badges hanging around their necks appeared. It was not a pleasant sight as the arguments were getting heated.

Suddenly, I saw two police officers, one with pistol and the other with automatic machine gun. I immediately question the officer with a pistol on why should they bring the machine gun and told him that we are not criminals. The persons he should arrest should be the Immigration officers who are not doing a good service to the public.

I have a few doubts that the system failed.

1. I saw that all the monitors were from IBM and I presumed that IBM had sold them a package. It is well-known that IBM not only sold the system but also does the servicing. If so, why did the officers not call for service and repair but preferred to close the office?

2. I heard from the crowd that the system normally failed during the weekends. I tend to agree after my three days of experience. My question is, why is there is no back-up system if the system sold by IBM is unreliable? I wonder what IBM or Mesiniaga have to say.

3. Why the need to call the police with machine guns into the Immigration office? Are they expecting some terrorists? What has the home minister or CPO have to say?

Below are pictures I snapped this morning. You can see that there are many passport applicants and some of them have been to this Immigration office many times. So much time and money have been spent just to secure a passport during a weekend.

If the Immigration Department cannot guarantee decent services during the weekends, than they should stop it and not waste our resources. Take note that I drove from Muar. Iwas not able to return to Batam on time and missed one day of work. I wonder how ‘1Malaysia’ can improve these chronic situation.