GUA MUSANG: The National Registration Department has assured the public that strict controls are in place to prevent the MyKad from being issued to unauthorised individuals.
Its director-general, Datuk Badrul Hisham Alias, said the department had not encountered any case of its staff deliberately issuing valid identity cards to unauthorised parties since the MyKad was introduced more than 25 years ago.
The MyKad issuance process is subject to strict security checks and quality controls to ensure damaged identity cards are not issued to applicants, he said.
“Cards damaged during production are audited by serial number to ensure every unit is accounted for and cannot be arbitrarily replaced,” he told Bernama.
Badrul Hisham said the MyKad production system complied with ISO standards, while its security features had been enhanced to reduce the risk of forgery.
Attempts to forge a genuine MyKad would produce a card that looked similar but could not replicate the original’s specific security features, he said.
Responding to public concerns over the durability of the new MyKad, he explained that the card is still made of polycarbonate, but its technology and security features had been upgraded.
He noted that chip failures are often caused by improper user handling – such as exposure to sunlight, washing machines or harsh rubbing – rather than manufacturing defects.
He also said the design, colour, and information displayed on the MyKad are prescribed by law and cannot be changed to suit individual preferences.
Badrul Hisham clarified that the shift in MyKad’s blue colour tone is purely aesthetic and carries no administrative significance.
Introduced in June, the new MyKad comes with 53 security features, compared with 23 in the previous version.
These include laser engraving, ultraviolet elements, holograms, guilloche patterns, microtext, Quick Response (QR) codes for enforcement purposes, and a chip with enhanced encryption.
