About Longhand
Careful Work With Documents That Matter
Longhand was set up to fill a practical gap: helping ordinary Malaysian households deal with the paperwork side of retirement without needing to understand the whole administrative system first.
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How Longhand Came to Be
Longhand opened its doors in Melaka's heritage quarter after its founders spent years watching elderly relatives and neighbours struggle to make sense of pension correspondence, EPF letters, and civil service records. The gap was not legal advice — there are qualified people for that. The gap was simpler and more persistent: households were receiving letters they did not understand, needed to send off requests they did not know how to frame, and had files that no one could read at a glance.
The office takes its name from a deliberate practice: we write things out by hand where that helps, keep physical log books, and work at a pace that suits clients who are not at ease with digital-only services. Malaysia has a large population of retirees and pre-retirees who managed careers through systems that generated paper, and that paper needs attending to even now.
We work with individuals who are sorting out their own records, with adult children who are handling correspondence on behalf of ageing parents, and with community organisations that want their members to understand how to keep their documents in order over a lifetime. In every case, the scope is the same: clerical, informational, and careful. We refer questions of entitlement, legal right, and financial planning to the appropriate professionals or official channels.
Our office is at 41 Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, in the part of Melaka that has always been a place where careful record-keeping mattered. Appointments are available Monday to Friday, and Saturday mornings for those who cannot come during the working week.
The People
Who Does the Work
Suraya Razak
Principal, Records Administration
Spent fifteen years in the civil service records division before setting up Longhand. Leads all client engagements involving individual document retrieval and household retainers.
Chong Tze-Wei
Correspondence & Indexing
Manages the correspondence log and physical filing systems for all retainer clients. Has a background in library science and has adapted archival indexing methods to household use.
Nabilah Ismail
Community Programme Facilitator
Delivers the Community Records Literacy Programme to residents' associations and community centres across Melaka. Conducts sessions in both English and Malay.
How We Work
Standards We Hold Ourselves To
Client Document Confidentiality
Personal documents and correspondence are handled in-house only. Nothing is shared with third parties except where the client has given written authorisation for a specific submission.
Defined and Stated Scope
We are explicit at every stage about what we do and do not cover. When a question falls outside clerical and informational work, we say so and point the client toward the right resource.
Systematic Record-Keeping
Every client file follows a consistent indexing method. Correspondence in and out is logged with dates and reference numbers so there is always a clear account of what happened and when.
Document Return and Disposal
At the end of each engagement, original documents are returned and any working copies are disposed of securely according to the client's instructions. Nothing is retained without agreement.
Plain Written Summaries
Every retainer client receives a fortnightly written summary of their file in plain language. The aim is that any family member who picks it up can understand the current position without needing to read a stack of letters.
Malaysian Data Protection Compliance
We follow the requirements of the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 in collecting, storing, and handling personal information provided by clients in the course of their engagement.
What We Know and What We Don't Claim to Know
The retirement documentation landscape in Malaysia involves several overlapping systems: the Employees Provident Fund for private sector workers, civil service pension schemes administered through federal and state bodies, SOCSO records, and in many cases employer-specific schemes that have since wound down or transferred. Each has its own request channels, its own forms, and its own response timelines.
Longhand does not interpret these systems. What we do is help clients navigate the published information, draft correspondence in the format each channel prefers, track what has been sent and received, and keep a running record of the household's document position. That is a practical and useful thing, and it is what we have built our service around.
We are not lawyers and we do not offer opinions on entitlement, eligibility, or disputes. Clients who need that kind of guidance are directed to the relevant government body, a registered legal practitioner, or a qualified financial planner. We make this clear in every initial conversation and in every service agreement.
Over the years we have observed that many households' document difficulties stem not from legal complexity but from simple disorganisation — letters that were filed in the wrong place, requests that were drafted in a format the receiving office did not recognise, or calendars with missed submission windows. Those are problems that careful clerical work can address, and that is where Longhand is most useful.
Next Step
Speak to Someone at Longhand
If you have a pile of pension letters that needs sorting, a request you do not know how to frame, or a community group that could use a records session — send us a note. We will read it and reply within two working days.
Make an Enquiry