National Registration Dept ensures strict controls in MyKad issuance, no integrity breaches in 25 years, says D-G

The National Registration Department (JPN) has assured the public that strict controls are in place to prevent MyKad from being issued to unauthorised individuals. — Picture by Raymond Manuel

First Published: Tuesday, 13 Oct 2026 2:29 PM MYT

GUA MUSANG, Oct 13 — The National Registration Department (JPN) has assured the public that strict controls are in place to prevent MyKad from being issued to unauthorised individuals.

JPN 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 MyKad was introduced more than 25 years ago.

He said the MyKad issuance process was subject to stringent security checks and quality controls to ensure that damaged identity cards were not issued to applicants.

“Cards damaged during production are also audited according to their serial numbers to ensure that every unit can be identified and is not replaced arbitrarily,” he told Bernama.

He said this when asked about the integrity of the MyKad issuance process during a registration literacy programme held in conjunction with the 78th Kelantan State-Level National Registration Day celebration at Pos Balar here.

Badrul Hisham said the MyKad production system complied with ISO standards, while its security features had been enhanced to reduce the risk of forgery.

He said attempts to imitate a genuine MyKad would produce a card that looked similar but could not replicate the original’s specific security features.

Responding to public concerns over the durability of the new MyKad, he explained that the card was still made of polycarbonate, but its technology and security features had been upgraded.

He said chip failure was not necessarily caused by manufacturing defects but could also result from how users handled or stored their cards, including leaving them in washing machines, rubbing them with erasers or exposing them to sunlight.

He also said the design, colour and information displayed on the MyKad were prescribed by law and could not be changed to suit individual preferences.

Badrul Hisham clarified that the change in the MyKad’s blue colour tone was purely for design purposes and did not carry any specific meaning.

Introduced last 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. — Bernama