There are two kinds of passports that Malaysians can use when
traveling to Singapore. These are the restricted and international
passports.
The Malaysian immigration staff do not really care to check
restricted passports, because the immigration department simply
does not have the capacity to handle the volume. People usually use
a blue cover for restricted passports, so this kind of passports is
easily identifiable. However, it does mean foreigners who resemble
locals can easily enter and leave Malaysia through the causeway and
second-link checkpoints without being recorded. I think the staff
also do random checks based on the age, attire and behavior of the
passport holders. Legitimate frequent travelers are usually of a
certain age group, wear certain attire and exhibit a certain
behavior, making them identifiable to some extent. Anyway, this
kind of passports will cease to be valid within the next couple of
years due to the lack of relevant security features.
New international passports have embedded chips. They usually have
a red cover. But as far as I know, the readers are only installed
at the autogates and counters. There have been concerns that
personal data can be read unknowingly from quite a bit of distance
away. But so far this effect does not seem to have been taken
advantage of at the two checkpoints for security and clearance
efficiency enhancements. The holders of this kind of passports need
to be recorded by the computer system when going through the
checkpoints, though stampings are no longer done. Stampings are
done for old international passports, which do not have embedded
chips.
