New Burmese Passport to Make Blacklisting Easier

New Burmese Passport to Make Blacklisting Easier By NYEIN ZAY
March 26, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18126


RANGOON — Burmese and foreigners who are blacklisted by the Burmese military regime will soon find it more difficult to obtain passports and visas when a new bar-code scanner system is introduced on April 1, according to an official at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The official, who also works with the Myanmar Passport Issuing Office, told The Irrawaddy that personal data, criminal records or political activities could be recorded in each passport and be accessed by officials, which could result in problems for those who are not in favor with the regime.
“At the moment, 10 out of 100 applicants are who are on the blacklist are likely to be granted [a passport or visa], but after the new system is introduced, it will be more difficult for them to obtain passports and visas,” said the official.
One member of Burma's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), said people with political backgrounds, media workers, people with prison records and oppositions politicians will face greater challenges when they apply for travel documents.
“I have been trying to get a passport for about eight months, and I met with officials at different levels, but I still haven't got it. Passport offices wouldn't say if my application would be granted. And my broker said he didn't understand why it was taking so long for me,” said the NLD member.
One journalist who was imprisoned in the past, said it normally would take a little over a month for those who are not on the regime's blacklist.
“Even if we apply for a family-visit visa in another country, authorities won't issue documents for us now. We will wait and see if there will be any change in the passport and visa processes after the election,” he said.
An official at the Immigration Department said brokers who make fake census records and IDs for a travel document applicant will likely be eliminated when the new bar-code system goes into effective.
In a recent press conference, Maj-Gen Aye Myint Kyu, the deputy minister at the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, said foreigners on the blacklist will not be given visas to enter the country.
As part of the switch to the new passports and to facilitate international passport holders, the scanner machines will be installed at Rangoon International Airport, the report said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has given instructions to all Burmese embassies that they introduce passports using the international bar-code system and embassies will suspend passport extension services for one month in April.
Passports that will expire in April are to be extended before April, according to the ministry.
There are concerns that Burmese expatriates could face difficulties in extending their passports under the new regulations due to a lack of information about the move.
Burma has diplomatic ties with 92 countries and embassies in 30 countries.
The International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN agency that promotes understanding and security through cooperative aviation regulation, has called on the Burmese government to stop issuing hand-written passports, according to a Xinhua news agency report.

COMMENTS

Myanmar Patriot 4 UMPF Wrote:
29/03/2010
About time too. We are so amazed that some of our people are so naive not to understand how we are trying to struggle out of the long shadow of colonialism whilst trying to give our people, freedom, democracy and human rights. Message for SPDC: Your are commanded by our king HM King Shwebomin II to stay on course: you will be given advice as and when the situation warrants. ANALYSE why the 1990 election results were so skewed in favour of the NLD AND SNLD. As a start, calculate votes per seat!

lal Wrote:
28/03/2010
I wonder if non-Buddhist Burmese people will be given the same type of passports or once aqain they will they be discreminated against, as always. There is no future for Burmese of Indian origin, They will always be KALAS, The Burmese are forgetting that BURMA was once part of INDIA, Go back to the history and you will see Burma was part of INDIA.