Below is a well documented procedure which I recently did. I renewed my passport online. It’s damn convenient and it saved me so much time. Usually, there are 2 queues when you go to any Malaysian Immigration branches. First, you’ll have to queue to fill in the forms and make your payment. If you do it online, you skip the first queue and jump straight to the 2nd queue where you collect your passport. The second queue is always shorter and the wait can be as fast as 5 minutes!

Step 1 : Go to the Immigration Department of Malaysia’s website and look for the link “Application for Renewal of Passport (MyOnline Passport)” at http://www.imi.gov.my/

Step 2 : The link will then bring you to this page where you should read through the procedures before continuing.

Step 3 : Clicking “Agree” at the bottom of Step 2 brings you to this page below where you fill in the particulars and click “Search” so that the system can look for your old passport particulars.

Step 4 : Fill in your details.

Step 5 : Click “Upload Image” from the page in Step 4 so that you can proceed to upload a digital image of yourself. Most photo studios will give you a CD together with your physical photos.

Step 6 : After you are done uploading look for the small rectangle over your photo.

Step 7 : Drag the edges of the rectangle and try to get a nice crop of the original. Click “Crop” when done.

Step 8 : Believe me, no matter what you do, it will never be a perfect crop. Don’t worry. Just leave it. 10 out of 10 people will get a call from the Immigration Department informing online applicants that their photo is unusable and to bring 2 passport size photos when collecting the passport.

Step 9 : Make sure all your details are correct. Make sure that you choose the branch closest to you. After that, click “Update” and proceed to Step 10.

Step 10 : You should get a notice saying “PERMOHONAN ANDA TELAH DITERIMA” before clicking “Teruskan”.

Step 11 : Select your credit/debit card payment method by clicking on the VISA or MasterCard logo.

Step 12 : Fill in the details of your credit card and click on “Pay”.

Step 13 : You should see this processing sign. I waited for less than a minute.

Step 14 : After the payment has been received, you will see your application number at the bottom of the details. Click “Cetak Resit”.

Step 15 : Print 2 copies of the receipt, one for yourself and one to hand over to the officer at the collection counter.

Now all you have to do is wait for a call from the officer in charge of online applications to ask you to bring 2 copies of your passport sized photos when collecting the day after. If you can’t wait (like me), I immediately looked up my Immigration branch’s phone number and called them to verify my application. You can find the details of every Immigration branch here.

Step 16 : Go to your selected Malaysian Immigration office the next day.

Step 17 : Proceed straight to the collection counter and hand over 1 printed receipt, 2 passport size photos and your old passport. Please remember to bring these 3 important items.

Step 18 : Wait and collect your passports. Your old passport should have a section cut out to invalidate it.

Step 19 : Everything inside the new passport is more or less the same. Enjoy your trip!

Recently the MP for Titiwangsa Johari Bin Abdul Ghani has made it clear that he does not need the Chinese and Indians to win the Titiwangsa seat. He did a mathematical calculation that all he need is the 32,000 Malay voters and that is all. He made it very clear that the Chinese and Indians are a minority and they are nothing but Customers.

Now who is this Ybhg Datuk Johari Bin Abdul Ghani? Well he is the Managing Director(Click here for proof) of CI Holdings Bhd the owners of Pemanis Sdn. Bhd (click here for proof).

He came on the Board of this company on the 29th of November 2002. Well since are are nothing but mere Customers, and since he does not need the Chinese and the Indians, I suppose he also does not need our patronage on Pemanis Sdn Bhd products.

Pemanis products are as follows and you may be familiar with some of them. (click here for proof)

SOFT DRINKS
PEPSI <-- common product found EVERYWHERE!
PEPSI MAX
PEPSI LIGHT
PEPSI TWIST
7-UP LEMON & LIME <-- common product found EVERYWHERE!
MIRINDA ORANGE
MIRINDA STRAWBERRY
FROST
EVERVESS <-- common product found IN CLUBS and HOTELS!!!
KICKAPOO <-- I used to drink this a lot in kopitiams!!
MOUNTAIN DEW <-- I used to drink this a lot in kopitiams!!

ISOTONIK
REVIVE
REVIVE LIME BURST
EXCEL <-- I know people who drink this every morning and when they have fever!
GATORADE
GATORADE QUIET STORM

TEA
LIPTON ICE TEA
LIPTON GREEN TEA 9 <-- the product that I always buy from 7 Eleven!

COFFEE
BOSS <-- the tinned coffee I love so much that I never knew was from a company headed by a racist!!! (maybe more)

ENERGY
STING

ASIAN DRINKS
CHILL

JUICE
TROPICANA TWISTER
TROPICANA 100%
TROPICANA JUICE PLUS
TWISTER BLACKCURRENT

WATER
BLEU
SHOT

The second way is by going to the post office yourself or to the nearest JPJ branch and have it renewed. The requirement is the geran and insurance cover note. Geran is something like the birth cert of your car and you can still get it from the bank if you’re still under hire purchase and your payment is good. The insurance cover note is like an official document saying that you’ve renewed your insurance.

This is how the front of my geran looks like.

The back.

If ever you own a care more than 12 years,

you will definitely see payment details printed even on the bottom section.

Did you know that in 1992, the cost of renewing the road tax of a 1500 cc car was RM427.20? Crazy.

And it remained as high up till 2006.

It wasn’t until 2007 before the price dropped 75% to RM106.80. The latest since 2008 was RM90. What a relief. I wonder how much was the renewal of a 3000 cc Mercedes Benz in 1992.

This is the second thing that you’ll need to renew your road tax.

Nowadays, you don’t have to bring it to the post office / JPJ office as they can check online but in case their system is down, they can refer to the cover note as proof. Better safe than leceh.

The 3rd thing is money. Lucky for me PCJ’s road tax costs only RM90.

There is an extra RM2 service charge for renewing at the post office. None whatsoever at JPJ.

If your time is flexible, go in the mornings. The queue is short. I was served immediately after pressing for a queue ticket.

3 minutes later, I got my road tax renewed. Thanks Lakshmi!

Tore out the old road tax.

It’s better to use a road tax sticker as it prevents sticky residue from dirtying your windshield. I believe they are commonly available in bookstores. (However, I got mine from a counter girl in JPJ who sold these for RM1 each as a side business. Shh..)

Done. The end.

and this DAILY for years now. I’ve been meaning to stop the service since I’m in Penang and it is not relevant to me.

Went to Maxis Center to solve the issue but found out that sms from five digit numbers starting with 6 like 62003 are unblockable. WTF?

They said there was nothing they could do and I just had to accept that it is the way it is. The best suggested solution is to just ignore the sms and delete it. Tiu!

Do you have sms spam issues too? Did you solve it? How?

“Both my parents are Malay. My mum’s heritage includes Chinese, Thai and Arab, while my dad is Minangkabau. Due to my skin colour, I am often mistaken for a Chinese.

“I’m happy that I don’t have the typical Malay look but I do get annoyed when people call me Ah Moi or ask me straight up: “Are you Chinese or Malay?”

“Like, why does it matter? Before I used to answer ‘Malay’, but now I’m trying to consciously answer ‘Malaysian’ instead.

“There’s this incident from primary school that I remember till today. Someone told me that I will be called last during Judgement Day because I don’t have a Muslim name. Of course, I was scared then but now that I’m older, I realise that a name is just a name. It doesn’t define you as a good or bad person and there is definitely no such thing as a ‘Muslim’ name. You can be named Rashid and still be a Christian.

“I’ve heard of the 1Malaysia concept, but I think we don’t need to be told to be united. We’ve come such a long way that it should already be embedded in our hearts and minds that we are united. Unfortunately, you can still see racial discrimination and polarisation. There is still this ethno-centric view that the Malays are the dominant group and their rights must be protected, and non-Malays are forever the outsiders.

“For the concept to succeed, I think the Government should stop with the race politics. It’s tiring, really. We grew up with application forms asking us to tick our race. We should stop painting a negative image of the other races, stop thinking about ‘us’ and ‘them’ and focus on ‘we’, ‘our’ and ‘Malaysians’.

“No one should be made uncomfortable in their own home. A dear Chinese friend of mine said to me once: ‘I don’t feel patriotic because I am not made to feel like Malaysia is my home, and I don’t feel an affinity to China because I have never lived there’.

“I know some Baba Nyonya friends who can trace their lineage back hundreds of years. I’m a fourth generation Malaysian. If I am bumiputra, why can’t they be, too? Clearly I have issues with the term.

“I think the main reason why we still can’t achieve total unity is because of this ‘Malay Rights’ concept. I’d rather ‘Malay Rights’ be replaced by human rights. So unless we get rid of this bumiputra status, or reform our views and policies on rights, we will never achieve unity.

“For my Merdeka wish, I’d like for Malaysians to have more voice, to be respected and heard. I wish that the Government would uphold the true essence of parliamentary democracy. I wish for the people to no longer fear and discriminate against each other, to see that we are one and the same.

“I wish that Malaysia would truly live up to the tourism spin of ‘Malaysia Truly Asia’.

Read more here.

KUALA LUMPUR, 17 Mac (Hrkh) – Kerana enggan membelanjakan RM100 ribu, Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang, Lim Guan Eng lebih rela tinggal di sebuah rumah berusia milik bapanya.

Naib Presiden PAS, Haji Mohamad Sabu menceritakan perkara itu selepas bertemu dengan Setiausaha Agung DAP itu di Pulau Pinang baru-baru ini.

Beliau ke pulau itu baru-baru ini kerana hendak bertemu Lim untuk berbincang beberapa perkara mengenai kepentingan bersama kedua-dua pihak.

“Oleh kerana beliau sibuk, beliau meminta saya menemuinya kira-kira pukul 10.00 malam hari itu.

“Tahu di mana Guan Eng nak jumpa saya? Di restoran McDonald,” kata Mohamad Sabu yang mula mengenali Lim dengan lebih dekat ketika sama-sama di tahan dalam Operasi Lallang 1987 lalu.

Naib Presiden PAS itu juga lebih selesa bertemu di tempat terbuka kerana “tidak ada apa yang hendak dirahsiakan”.

Bagaimanapun, katanya, Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang itu kemudiannya memberitahu pertemuan itu tidak dapat diadakan di tempat terbuka itu atas nasihat pihak keselamatan.

Memahami perkara tersebut, beliau terus menuju ke rumah di mana Lim tinggal.

“Di rumah, dia biasa sahaja dengan “seluaq katok” (seluar pendek). Bila saya tengok keadaan rumah yang berusia tempat dia tinggal, saya tanya dia, kenapa tak pindah ke rumah rasmi Ketua Menteri?

“Dia (Lim) jawab: ‘Susahlah, kalau nak pindah kena perbaiki. Terpaksa belanja sampai RM100 ribu. Takkan saya nak belanja duit rakyat sampai RM100 ribu untuk kepentingan saya’

“Saya rasa sangat terharu mempunyai kawan seperti itu,” kata Mohamad Sabu.

Walaupun perkara itu bukanlah perkara baru baginya, memandangkan Mursyidul Am, Tuan Guru Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat yang menjadi Menteri Besar Kelantan sejak 1990 memilih kehidupan yang sederhana, begitu juga Presiden PAS Tuan Guru Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang ketika menjadi Menteri Besar Terengganu dahulu, Naib Presiden PAS itu tetap merasa bangga dengan sikap sederhana dan rendah diri Lim itu.

“Saya bangga kerana dia takut nak belanja wang rakyat RM100 ribu sedangkan Perdana Menteri gasak sehingga RM15.81 juta untuk ubahsuai kediaman rasminya Seri Perdana di Putrajaya.

“Saya yakin, Menteri-Menteri Besar kita yang lain (dari PAS dan KeADILan) juag akan memilih jalan kehidupan yang sederhana yang sama seperti dua Tok Guru kita, jauh lagilah menyalahgunakan harta kerajaan,” katanya.

Sementara itu, Bernama melaporkan, kata-kata pertama Lim semasa mengadakan sidang media di Pejabat Ketua Menteri di Tingkat 28 Komtar ialah: “Saya rasa seperti melangkah masuk ke kandang singa”.

“Saya tidak menyangka dapat duduk di kerusi ketua menteri ini kerana pernah dipenjarakan. Ia merupakan transformasi sebenarnya dan pengalaman baru bagi saya,” Bernama memetik Lim.

Sebelum mengangkat sumpah, Lim berkata beliau dapati lebih ramai pemberita menghadiri sidang akhbarnya sekarang dan “saya diterangi lampu-lampu kamera”.

Dalam kenyataan kemenangannya, Lim berkata, “Kami gembira dengan kemenangan ini dan berjanji tidak akan mengecewakan penduduk Pulau Pinang.

“Kami mahu menegaskan bahawa kerajaan baru adalah untuk rakyat Malaysia daripada semua kaum. Kami ada bersikap adil, saksama dan tidak mendiskriminasikan mana-mana kumpulan – memberi bantuan kepada semua yang memerlukan.

“Penduduk Pulau Pinang yang berbakat akan mendapat peluang saksama daripada gabungan parti pembangkang itu yang disatukan menerusi kecintaan terhadap demokrasi dan menghormati hak asasi manusia, kekaksamaan politik dan keadilan sosioekonomi,” katanya sambil mengesa orang ramai supaya “menghormati hasrat rakyat”.

Taken from here

You 3 selfless guys inspired my life for the past 2 weeks :

• Thanks Raja Petra. Malaysia-Today.net raised awareness nationwide. You yourself went to the streets and took the ceramahs by storm.
• Thanks Anwar for your funny speeches. Shit. Thinking about Samy or Rafidah makes me laugh. You are the only one who can unite the opposition parties together. Please stay healthy for at least the next 10-20 years. My Chinese friends and I support you too.
• Thanks Jeff Ooi. You had about 5% of voice left from your gruelling campaign all around Penang. We know you fought hard. From a fellow blogger to another, congrats!

I’m so proud to be a Malaysian.

I love you, Penang!