Application on Visa

I'm a Malaysian living in Johor Bahru and working in Singapore. I wish to travel to China for holiday May this year. I've a problem applying Visa because of my passport. I need my passport to go to Spore working everyday, thus I can not submit my passport for application. Is it possible that I submit the photocopy of my passport for application ? Or any other way to solve this problem ? Please advise.
Thank you.