Home Ministry tightening NRD's delivery system, SOPs

PETALING JAYA: The Home Ministry is in the midst of improving the National Registration Department's (NRD) delivery system and standard operating procedures (SOPs) following the revelation of a syndicate selling MyKad and birth certificates to foreigners, says Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

The Home Minister said among the measures that will be taken are an immediate halt to registration of late births at state NRD offices with such registrations only allowed at NRD headquarters.

"We will also increase spot checks at all NRD divisions, including vendors, to ensure that all rules and regulations are adhered to.

"The security levels will also be upgraded in stages so that it cannot be easily accessed by all officers, instead it will require verification from high-ranking officers," he said in a statement Sunday (Sept 22).

NRD officers will also be transferred to different posts on a rotation basis to ensure that any officer will remain at their posts for not more than two years, he added.

"This is to minimise the chances for abuse of power.

"Birth certificates that have not been claimed will also be reviewed before they are disabled via the database to prevent any abuse," Muhyiddin said.

In the long term, the NRD has also proposed the setting up of a DNA database, which is included in birth certificates to prevent leakages, he added.

"All the measures that will be taken were decided in a special meeting to improve the NRD delivery system, chaired by ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Alwi Ibrahim last Wednesday (Sept 18)," he said.

Muhyiddin stressed that the ministry will not protect any government officer involved in the sale of MyKad and the police have been given full purview to investigate and detain the nation's traitors.

"We will not compromise with any spread of unverified and fake news. Stern legal action will be taken against the culprits, to act as a deterrent to others.

"Such actions will also remind everyone to be more careful in making statements involving fake news," he said.

On Sept 11, police arrested 20 people, including a NRD officer, on suspicion of being involved in the illegal issuance and sale of birth certificates and MyKad.

The following day, six men aged between 34 and 66, including a Penang NRD assistant director, were charged in court on 32 counts related to such a sale to foreign nationals.

On Friday (Sept 20), Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador said several more Penang NRD personnel would be detained to facilitate investigations into the matter.

The NRD director-general has also been instructed to give his full cooperation with investigators in connection with case.

Muhyiddin had said that the director-general must cooperate fully with the authorities, including the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC), in their investigations into sale of the registration documents.