New Malaysian passport to be rolled out from June 1

 Immigration director-general Zakaria Shaaban says it will have 94 security elements.

Immigration director-general Zakaria Shaaban said existing passports with more than six months’ validity remain valid for travel and do not need to be replaced. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA:

The immigration department will begin issuing new Malaysian passports featuring 94 security elements from June 1, says director-general Zakaria Shaaban.

He said the initial phase would involve the immigration headquarters in Putrajaya, the Kuala Lumpur passport office in Jalan Duta, the Wangsa Maju urban transformation centre and the Shah Alam immigration office.

Full nationwide issuance is expected by July.

“Previously, our passports had 49 security features, but the security elements in the new version have nearly doubled. This is to make our passports more secure and harder to forge,” Bernama reported him as saying in Putrajaya.

Zakaria said the improvements include enhanced holograms, ultraviolet printing, hidden visual elements and other specialised anti-forgery features.

“Even the thread used to bind the passport booklet has its own security features, and each page is designed differently,” he said.

Zakaria advised the public not to rush to replace their passports, saying that existing passports with more than six months’ validity remain valid for travel and do not need to be replaced.

He also reminded members of the public applying for their passport online to use genuine photographs and not images altered using artificial intelligence (AI).

“I would like to stress that passport applicants should not use photos generated or modified using AI.

“We have detected several cases where applicants attempted to enhance their photos – for example, brightening images or enhancing their appearance – and used AI,” he said, adding that immigration officers have the expertise to detect AI-generated images. - FMT