PUTRAJAYA: A new travel border pass to enter five provinces in Thailand was launched yesterday, replacing the old document, which was in paper form. 

The new, sleek-looking travel document was launched by Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi at the 16th National Immigration Day celebration at the department’s headquarters here yesterday. 

The department’s security and passport director Ibrahim Abdullah said the new Malaysia-Thailand border pass which upgrades more than 20 security features, was aimed at enhancing the documents’ quality,

“The Malaysia-Thailand border pass is blue with the national emblem embossed on the front cover with the words ‘Malaysia’ and ‘Border Pass on it’,” he said, adding the changes were undertaken to enable the public to more easily differentiate between passports and the border pass.

Ibrahim said each pass can be used in the Machine Readable Zone (MRZ), using the same scanners as passports.

He said the new system would not only speed up travel procedures at entry and exit points, but also deter duplication by irresponsible parties.

Ibrahim said with the new border pass, travellers could now go in and out of the country without damaging their document as it is more durable than the paper form pass.

“The old document was not durable and could be easily damaged as it was only printed on a piece of paper, whereas the new border pass is more solid and long-lasting. The pages in the pass are also of better quality.”

Ibrahim said even with the newly added features and quality upgrade of the Malaysia-Thailand border pass, the travel document’s application fee would remain at RM10.

Border pass holders can also choose to include their children’s details, a feature similar to that of a passport, he said, adding they could include up to eight children in the pass, as long as they were under the age of 12.

Travellers above the age of 12 would need to obtain their own border pass.

Ibrahim said the new pass would allow holders to travel to Satun, Songkhla, Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani provinces in southern Thailand.

The department issues about 500,000 new passes every year. The document can only be used by those who were born in Kelantan, Kedah, Perlis and Hulu Perak or have resided in these areas for more than a year.

“We have also extended the validity of the pass from six months to a year.”

He said the passes would allow holders to travel anywhere in the five provinces. Previously, border passes were for travel for areas within 25km of the border.

“These regulations are based on the Malaysia-Thailand Cross-Border Agreement signed in February last year that replaces the Traffic Across the Boundary Between the Malay States and Thailand agreement that was signed in Bangkok in 1940.”

At the launch, Zahid said Malaysia’s high-tech and sophisticated travel documents reflected the high value of Malaysian passports. 

“The technology in our documents are advanced and the system we use is on a par with those in developed countries. We are also pioneers in several immigration systems and this puts the country ahead in the field.”