Who Says Civil Servants Don’t Deliver?

Adik and I had a very interesting visit to the immigration office at Subang airport recently. It was interesting because we only spent 10 minutes there! (Ok, 12 minutes if you include the time it took to go buy him a snack at the canteen.)

My passport expired so I had to apply for a new one. I know the immigration office there has a Kaunter Khas for pregnant ladies, applicants with babies and very young children (under 2 years old, I believe) and senior citizens. Basically they have a queue to themselves, making it faster for them to get their business done.

Ok, I admit, I brought Adik so that I can use the Kaunter Khas. It turns out I need not have. You can see in the picture the many rows of empty seats behind Adik. Not to mention the excellent parking spot we got.

Last year, when I took Adik and my auntie to the same office to get their passports done prior to our Brunei trip, the office was full of applicants. It was standing room only (almost like a rock concert except no screaming or flailing of arms) and the play area for children was packed. However, with the Kaunter Khas (I had a baby AND a senior citizen) it only took us 20 minutes to get things sorted.

I remember being so impressed – not only did they have a dedicated counter for the 3 special groups of people, they also had a play area for children (this is the immigration office, remember!!) AND a baby room. Admittedly the baby room is just a partition with a sliding door that has a table to change baby’s diaper and a chair for mommy to nurse her baby.

Mothercare it ain’t, but then this isn’t their core business so I think they’ve done very well to provide all those facilities with the resources that they have.