IT'S the time of the year when new faces join the government either through the ballot box or recruitment, and one of the first things that will attract them is possessing a diplomatic passport.
In Malaysia, a diplomatic passport is issued by the Immigration Department upon the consent of Foreign Ministry.
Malaysian diplomats are eligible to hold a diplomatic passport and this is extended to their family members if they are assigned to an embassy abroad.
Once they get a diplomatic passport, they cease to use their normal passport.
Diplomatic passports are also provided to Malaysian officials who attend meetings abroad, but these are issued after scrutiny.
A diplomatic passport carries benefits, but these benefits are not automatic.
For one, international law gives the holders an automatic right of passage on their way to and from the state they are appointed.
However, this comes only after all visa applications are made, normally through the Foreign Ministry via a third-person note to the foreign embassy.
Upon arrival at the designated state, holders of diplomatic passports get to use a fast lane to clear immigration.
This facility is to enable diplomats to carry out their duty without impediment or delay.
It is important to note that diplomats' right of passage is not guaranteed if they transit in a third state on their way to the designated state.
This happens rarely, but is a possibility if the diplomats are not accepted in the third state or if the third state has no diplomatic relations with either the sending or the receiving state.
Article 40 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 adopts a strict functional approach on whether diplomats in transit are entitled to privileges and immunities.
Generally, they have no such entitlement.
The third state is obliged only to accord them inviolability and other immunities as may be required to ensure their transit or return.
Diplomatic passport holders' family members in transit, whether travelling with them or separately, are entitled to protection and freedom from arrest, but civil proceedings may be brought against them, provided that they do not involve their arrest and they have no privileges, such as exemption from baggage search.
Service staff and private servants of the diplomats receive no special treatment in third states, although the states are obliged not to hinder the passage when they are proceeding to or from their posts.
To benefit from immunities in Article 40, diplomats must be accredited to a specific receiving state.
Normally, this comes with the issuance of a diplomatic identity card by the receiving state, which is valid until the diplomat's assignment ends in that state.
From that time on, the diplomatic ID becomes more valuable and recognised than the diplomatic passport.
In most cases, holders also enjoy tax exemption on purchases of goods and services.
It is, therefore, not uncommon to hear of roving ambassadors or special envoys not receiving immunity from extradition proceedings although they carry a diplomatic passport.
This is because they are neither accredited to nor recognised by the government of any particular country.
Diplomats who are in a third state for recreational or other private purposes, or who stop during their transit to or from their post for a prolonged private holiday, are not entitled to immunity.
If they are there for their own pleasure, they are merely a distinguished personage and they are not protected by the convention, although they carry
with them their diplomatic passport.
In general, the diplomatic passport guarantees benefits to accredited diplomats, but other holders of the diplomatic passport must be prepared to come to terms with lining up, having their baggage checked or being pulled aside should there be any breach of security.
In some cases, diplomatic passport holders attract more scrutiny than tourists.
States being states, there is always the misperception that diplomats arriving to a country have nefarious intent, which is an unfortunate relic, perhaps, of bygone times.
The writer is Malaysia's former ambassador to the Netherlands and the Fiji Islands, and adjunct professor at the Law Faculty, Universiti Malaya