I know this has been said before but I will say it again. Jabatan Imigresen need to fix our passport to separate our names into first and last names/surnames/family names, even though I know for the vast majority of us, this is not part of our culture.
Reasons:
- So our flight tickets EXACTLY match our names in our passports. Almost every airline needs us to separate our names (including Malaysia Airlines by the way). And when you use your Malaysian passport to check in using foreign airline apps or kiosks at foreign airports, there will almost definitely be an error and you have to queue in the manual line (sometimes for very long - I almost missed a flight because of this). I have had countless bad experiences when travelling overseas over the past 25 years. Where to even start? If our passports separate our names, we can relax and just lenggang lenggok after checking in with the app or kiosk. No need to stress and sweat.
- So we standardise how to separate our names (especially Malays) when applying to foreign universities and for visas. Like, where does the Bin/Binti go? First name? Last name? Omit? Surely our government should guide us instead of everyone bantai.
- So we don't face confusion when we have to make a driving license or open a bank account overseas. My Chinese Malaysian friend (let's call him Lim Ah Heok) went to make a UK driving license and the DVLA insisted to follow his passport. So the driving license shows his name as Last name: LNU, First name: Lim Ah Heok. Of course, he wasnt happy about this, but they refused to change the license.
- So that the Malays with long names e.g. Puteri Sharina Batrisya Binti Muhammad Kamaruddin (44 characters) will be able to split their names instead of artificially shortening it. Note that 40 characters is the maximum for a passport.
The fix is SUPER easy as many of you probably know, by using the double chevron (<<) in the machine readable zone:
Current format: Puteri Sharina Batrisya Binti Muhammad Kamaru (name cut off because it's too long)
P<MYSPUTERI<SHARINA<BATRISYA<BINTI<MUHAMMAD<KAMARU<<
Machine will read it as:
Surname: Puteri Sharina Batrisya Binti Muhammad Kamaru
Given/first name: ***BLANK***
Change to:
Given name: Puteri Sharina Batrisya
Surname: Binti Muhammad Kamaruddin
P<MYSBINTI<MUHAMMAD<KAMARUDDIN**<<**PUTERI<SHARINA<BATRISYA
Current format: Omar Al-Bakry
P<MYSOMAR<ALBAKRY
Change to:
Given name: Omar
Surname: Al-Bakry
P<MYS<ALBAKRY**<<**OMAR
Current format: Lenjau Anak Apoi
P<MYSLENJAU<ANAK<APOI<
Change to:
Given name: Lenjau
Surname: Anak Apoi
P<MYSANAK<APOI**<<**LENJAU<
Current format: Chan Chee Kiong
P<MYSCHAN<CHEE<KIONG<
Change to:
Given name: Chee Kiong
Surname: Chan
P<MYSCHAN**<<**CHEE<KIONG<
Current format: Edward Ng Chai Wee
P<MYSEDWARD<NG<CHAI<WEE<
Change to:
Given name: Edward Chai Wee
Surname: Ng
P<MYSNG**<<**EDWARD<CHAI<WEE<
Current format: Saroja a/p Kamalanathan
P<MYSSAROJA<KAMALANATHAN<
Change to:
Given name: Saroja
Surname: Kamalanathan
P<MYSKAMALANATHAN**<<**SAROJA<
Current format: Saran Singh Walia
P<MYSSARAN<SINGH<WALIA<
Change to:
Given name: Saran Singh
Surname: Walia
P<MYSWALIA**<<**SARAN<SINGH<
I have suggested many times to Jabatan Imigresen / Ministry of Home Affairs, but they haven't properly responded to me. To Malaysians who travel internationally a lot and/or live overseas, let's please suggest to JIM to fix this. We have a strong passport. Let's make it even better! This is the SISPAA link for submitting suggestions: https://moha.spab.gov.my/eApps/system/index.do (only works from within Malaysia).
This is how to categorise the complaint (as far as I have figured out):
Jabatan Persekutuan > Kementerian Dalam Negeri > Sektor Pendaftaran Imigresen > Bahagian Hal Ehwal Imigresen
Thanks.