Group :
URL :
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20090201-118534.html
Publisher :
Asia One News
Editor :
Alang Bendahara
Date :
01/02/2009

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: The Malaysian passport will be upgraded early next year to bring it in line with world standards.

Some of the redundant security features will be removed.

Immigration Department director-general Datuk Mahmood Adam said the upgrading would involve the incorporation of four new features to adhere to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)'s new passport standards.

The existing passport contains 35 security features.

"We want to reduce that number to just five as most of the features are no longer relevant," he told the New Sunday Times yesterday.

Among the features to be removed are the numerous holograms, which can now be easily reproduced, the use of multiple colours, lamination of the details page and the use of costly high-grade security paper.

Mahmood said the data chip would be upgraded to a smaller one.

"The old one is as big as a thumb. The new one will be only 2mm, thus reducing the thickness of the back cover of the passport where it is placed."

The encryption used on the chip will also be increased to be on par with the ones introduced by the United States Immigration, which are said to be "unbreakable".

Mahmood said the chip's radio-frequency identification (RFID) capabilities would also be given a boost, enabling faster reading time at Immigration points.

"The boosted capabilities will also enable us to use a new technology which allows us to read the passport's data while it is in a person's possession and track it.

"This, coupled with images from closed-circuit television cameras, will allow us to cross-check the pictures in our database with the person holding the passport."

Mahmood said this technology was used by security teams in some countries during major sports events and high-profile conferences.

"We plan to use it on a daily basis."

Mahmood said particulars of the holder would no longer appear on the inside page of the front cover.

"We found that there were attempts to tamper with our passport by cutting the portrait image printed there."

The particulars will now be placed on the second page of the passport, which is thinner.

A ghost image in black and white will appear beside the colour photograph.

Mahmood said Malaysia would be introducing several "firsts" in the passport, such as using nano organic DNA ink in the document.

"The technology is Malay-sian-based and the special ink will be coded with DNA, thus making it unique to us.

"There will be micro-sized colour dots on every page. This feature is used worldwide to detect counterfeits."

Mahmood said the upgrades were necessary to ensure the Malaysian passport remained tamper-proof.

"Technology is growing rapidly and so has the capability to clone things.

"If we do not adapt or evolve constantly, we will lose the game."

Mahmood said his department was running tests and finding vendors for the necessary equipment.