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10-Year Passports: Let Malaysians Choose

Feb 20, 2024

The government should give Malaysians the freedom to choose to have 5-year or 10-year passports.  

Social activist Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye says not everyone will benefit from a 10-year validity.  

According to The Star, he says such passports would only be useful for people who do a lot of overseas travel.  

Recently, the Home Minister said that the Immigration Department is looking at whether to extend the validity from 5 to 10 years.  

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The consumer rights group FOMCA is against plans to set up designated smoking areas outside restaurants in tight spaces, saying it would contradict the national policy for tobacco control. 

The government recently said it's considering such smoking areas, at places where it's hard to enforce the 3 metre no smoking rule.  

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The acquittal of 3 people over the murder of Cradle Fund CEO Nazrin Hassan could go to the Federal Court.  

This is after the Attorney General's Chambers lodged an appeal over the Court of Appeal's decision, which upheld an earlier ruling that the prosecution failed to prove their case.  

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Separately, the Federal Court has ruled that vernacular schools are constitutional. 

In a 2-1 ruling, the apex court refused to grant leave to two NGOs, who wanted a declaration that the use of Chinese and Tamil languages as the medium of instruction in such schools goes against the Federal Constitution.  

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The Communications Minister says the government has no allocations to bring international artists to perform exclusive concerts in Malaysia.  

He was commenting on reports of Singapore's multi-million-dollar deal with Taylor Swift, which makes Singapore the only ASEAN stop for her Eras world tour.