PETALING JAYA: While the upcoming rollout of a high-security MyKad is being welcomed as a long-overdue upgrade, several former senior police officers have cautioned that no amount of enhancements will be effective if systemic weaknesses within the identity management system are left unaddressed.
Former federal criminal investigations department (CID) assistant director Datuk S. Shanmugamoorthy said the core problem lies not in the design of the new MyKad, which will be introduced next June, but in how the identification system is handled.
“Previously, only two agencies could check or hold the MyKad: the police and the National Registration Department (NRD). Yet even routine processes, like refilling fuel subsidies, sometimes involve handing over the MyKad to third parties.
“When a MyKad falls into the wrong hands, it can be used to create fake identities and misused, and we end up with a serious situation.
“New security features may help reduce cases of MyKad cloning, but we must always be a step ahead of the criminals, as vulnerabilities remain.
“Past experiences from other enforcement agencies must be assessed and their feedback studied to ensure weaknesses are eliminated,” said the retired police officer, who is now a lawyer.
Shanmugamoorthy said that to minimise the risk of being cloned or abused, the MyKad should solely be used for identification purposes of Malaysians and cease to have multiple functions such as an e-wallet or a prepaid card for toll or parking payments.
He said linking it to other platforms should only be allowed after strict scrutiny, and there should be a feature to automatically deactivate lost or misplaced MyKad, similar to how banks handle lost credit cards.
Former Perak police chief Datuk Mior Faridalathrash Wahid said the MyKad enhancements would certainly raise the bar against counterfeit MyKad and provide law enforcement a clearer advantage to help restore public confidence in the national identification system.
He added, however, that its success depends on a smooth rollout, clear guidelines and proper coordination with both government and private agencies that rely heavily on MyKad verification.
“Continuous engagement with stakeholders will help ensure that any gaps in the system are caught early.
“A smooth transition will ensure that citizens can replace their MyKad without unnecessary delay while law enforcement and frontline agencies can quickly adapt to the updated security features,” said Mior Faridalathrash, who is now a practising lawyer.
Retired Penang police chief and criminologist Datuk Seri A. Thaiveegan said while cases of forged MyKads are not rampant, even a single case of fake identity can trigger serious repercussions, ranging from financial scams to compromising national security.
He said every new layer of the new digital enhancements should be balanced with awareness that criminals never cease to exploit weaknesses.
With digitalisation growing in every sector, overcoming fraud and cloning is a challenge to enforcement agencies that are bogged down by manpower and technological limitations, Thaiveegan said.
“Machines can be repaired when compromised, but when the minds of trusted insiders are hacked, the damage runs much deeper with danger that is far more disastrous,” he told The Star.
Transparency-International Malaysia (TI-M) president Raymon Ram cautioned that the upcoming high-security MyKad rollout will do little to curb fraud if internal integrity issues are not addressed.
Referring to past scandals, including a case in Penang where NRD staff were arrested for colluding with syndicates to issue genuine MyKad to foreigners in 2019, he said the case showed systemic weaknesses rather than being an isolated act of integrity breach.
Ram said that while upgrades such as QR codes, biometrics and enhanced chips may reduce forgery, they may not deter crooked insiders from manipulating data at its source and colluding with criminal syndicates.
He called for comprehensive reforms, including robust internal audits, staff rotation, digital access logs, whistleblower protection and independent oversight to ensure accountability.
