This is not my first complaint. Just had one not too long ago. You can read it here.
Went to Duta’s immigration office to make Liam’s passport today. We reached there just before 1pm and found the passport office was dark, as in literally all the lights had been switched off.
According to a personnel who was there, the office was closed between 1pm-2pm.
I was annoyed because there’s no notice on changes with operation hours on website or anywhere.
If you know Bahasa Malaysia, it says operation hours during fasting month is 8.30am – 5.30pm. Sounds fair. No mention of 1pm-2pm rest time though.
As you can see, normal operation hours is 7.30am – 5.30pm. No mention of afternoon breaks too, except for the Friday which is for prayers.
So who sanctioned that afternoon break!?
I guess I am lucky that I have flexible hours so I can suck it and deal with it. But really, with such bloated civil service, how hard is it to keep operations going by having staggered breaks??
Half of the staff work while half of the staff take a break. After one hour, the one who rested start work and the one who worked could rest for an hour. Like this also difficult meh!? Simple logic no? But no no no no no, everyone rests and the rest of Malaysians get their toll, petrol, time and work leaves wasted for no reason.
This sort of inefficiency really gives me the angrys!!!
What about normal tax paying working people that have to go all the way to the government office during lunch break only to find that the shutters are down because they have decided to “rest” for an hour. Pay tax for this kind of shitty service?
With other companies, if I don’t like their service I can boycott the brand, stop buying their products or service. But hello, I can’t boycott getting a passport?
Anyway, I went to have lunch at the nearby Publika and went back at 2.30pm. It was pleasant, paid up etc and got a slip to come back to collect the passport after an hour. So, instead of waiting we went off to Publika (5 minutes away) to get some groceries, got back to the goverment office at 4.58pm and guess what??
Lights all turned off again! *&^*&^$%%$&^%$&^%$&^*&^(*&)*&$&^
What is this!? 5.30pm closing time right? Why not yet 5pm already closed??
Not a single soul in sight. Don’t know if sleeping behind the counters or gone home already. Who knows? Mind you I am not in some sleeping town type of branch, I am in Duta branch! Next to one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in Malaysia.
These people really have no pride in their jobs. All they want is more rest, more rest and more rehat.
Don’t make it so easy for people to insult you can or not? Be professional! Have pride in your jobs!
Like I always say, I feel most sorry about being a Malaysian whenever I go to the government office. The chaos, the slightly run down amenities, the awful charts and farce of inspiring slogan after slogan, the attitude. Everything is just a hint, a taste of the state of our nation.
Hi Kim,
Totally agreed with your articles. I always get heart attack whenever i need to settle stuff at government office, it’s either more than half of the counters are closed, or the officers rather chatting their time away than attending to more customers, or they would do their work so slow that i was on the verge of losing my patience but could not do anything, because they ARE THE OFFICER.
Government offices can be a real pain to visit and work with, on many countries. On my side of the Pacific the problem you encountered no longer exist, used to, but has been corrected years ago. Govt. offices here do stagger breaks to ensure enough people are on site to assist citizens during core hours, usuallly stated at 10AM until 5PM.
Most, govt. agencies allow citizens to do nearly every transaction online. Even applying for a replacement passport. The only stop one has to make here is to have the passport renewal with pictures maied from the post office. Drivers licences can be renewed online for up to 7 years before on had to have a new picture and take a written test again.
If you have a govt representative, consider contacting him/her and report your encounter with the closed office.
I went to the exact same immigration office to apply for the passport for my son who was 2 months + at the time of application around end of June, also during the month of Ramadan. I had low expectation but perhaps I was lucky, the who process was smooth. We arrived around 10.15am and left the place around 11.45am after my wife made use of the nursing room provided whilst we were sitting around waiting for the passports (both mine and my son’s ) to be issued.
Since we have a baby with us, we were directed to the special counter and our number got called immediately. The officer attending to us was also very patient and helpful. My wife and I were both very impressed with the whole process.
Yeah, I have to agree while the office was open, service was swift and pleasant. I was just really miffed by the inconsiderate closing times and breaks without any notice. Glad you had a good experience!