KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 — The Immigration Department will dispose of some 1,000 passports if they remain uncollected by the end of this month, The Star reported today.

Its director-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud noted that the Malaysian passport is the 12th most powerful in the world and a high security document and had to be disposed of soon, having been left uncollected for 90 days.

"Because of that, we have to dispose of the uncollected passports to prevent them from being abused or falling into the wrong hands,” he was quoted as saying.

The Star also reported that there are also about 6,000 more uncollected passports that will be discarded once the travel documents reach the 90-day deadline.

Khairul Dzaimee said Immigration officers had to perform an additional task in calling passport applicants to collect their travel documents and that many of them gave "baffling” excuses for their delay.

"Most of them gave the reason of not having the time to pick up their passports, or that they were not aware it was ready for collection.

"The reasons are rather baffling since Malaysians have been making a beeline to Immigration offices to get their hands on a passport,” he was quoted as saying.

He reminded Malaysians to check their passport application status on the Immigration website if they do not receive an email notification.

He said applicants can also head straight to Immigration offices after three working days of applying for their passports.

He said those who failed to collect their passports before they were disposed of would have to reapply anew and pay another RM200 fee.

Khairul Dzaimee said the Immigration Department had to apply to the National Archives in order to dispose of the uncollected passports.

"The approval will come with a guideline on the method of disposal, including by burning or by shredding the documents,” he was quoted as saying.

According to The Star, the Immigration Department issued a total of 1,374,091 passports between January and August this year.