Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said Singapore’s reasons for the rejection was that it was uncertain of the smart card’s security features.

The more than 100,000 Malaysians who travel to Singapore for work every day will have to continue to use international passports.

Radzi said Malaysia agreed to Singapore’s request in 2004 to scrap the restricted passport system, although there were objections from many people in Johor at that time.

After a two-year discussion, it was reported last year that Malaysia and Singapore had agreed in principle to introduce the smart card system for frequent travellers, and that it would be operational once card readers had been installed at the Causeway and the Second Link CIQ checkpoints.

Radzi acknowledged that the decision by Singapore would affect Malaysian workers there, as international passports cost more.

The frequent stamping of their international passports, he noted, would mean that the workers would have to replace their five-year passports at RM300 (32 pages) or RM600 (64 pages), compared to RM150 for restricted passports.

However, Radzi said he would revive negotiations to convince the republic of the MyKad’s security, and if that failed, he would propose that Singapore implement a mechanism to enable the use of Malaysia’s e-passport system.

Radzi was speaking at a Press conference after meeting his Brunei counterpart, Datuk Adanan Mohd Yusof, at his office here yesterday

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