The Sun

Believe it or not? MyKad not recognised by govt departments!

R.Manirajan

April 9, 2007: Getting the National Registration Department's nod for a name change in your MyKad doesn't make it any easier to do the same for your driving licence and passport.

A Muslim convert who tried to do this recently has uncovered yet another example of poor public service delivery, with government agencies sticking to their own rules, no matter what the NRD has approved.

The convert, a Singhalese, had converted to Islam in 2003 and recently asked the NRD change the name on his MyKad.

The applicant wanted to remove his "anak lelaki" and his grandfather's name from his name. At the same time, he opted not to have "bin Abdullah" after his name as was normally done by other converts.

As required, he submitted his original birth certificate, photocopies of his conversion cards from the Muslim Welfare Organisation Malaysia (Perkim) and Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department (Jawi) and a commissioner of oath affidavit declaring his conversion to Islam.

The department approved his application in one week and he got his MyKad with the new name he wanted.

Next on his "to do" list was to change his name in his passport and driving licence. That was where his frustration started.

At the Immigration Department in Putrajaya, he was told by a counter staff to bring certified copies of his new MyKad with the NRD approval letter, conversion cards from Perkim and Jawi, birth certificate and another commissioner of oath affidavit declaring his new religious status.

"I asked the staff why I needed to bring all these documents again when NRD had already approved the name change?

"She said it was their rule as Immigration needed to make its own verification with the religious departments and other agencies before approving the name change in my passport," said the applicant who spoke to theSun on condition of anonymity.

After getting all the documentation done, he went back to Immigration, but this time, another counter staff said they could not accept his application in Putrajaya as the headquarters only issued approval and did not handle applications. He was told to go to the nearest immigration branch and it would take about two weeks to get approval from the headquarters.

"The NRD is a government department that gives Malaysians their identity card and even citizenship status. How come such an important document like this is not recognised by other government departments?" he asked.

The applicant faces the same problem with the Road Transport Department.

"Isn't there supposed to be a standing operating procedure and shouldn't there be greater respect for the MyKad?" he said.

Spokesmen for both the Immigration Department and the Road Transport Department confirmed the procedure of asking the applicant to bring all the relevant documents, saying it was a standard operating procedure.

They said documents could be forged and therefore thorough checking was required.

Asked why certified documents from the NRD were needed when the departments could verify the applicant's information by making a phone call to the NRD and citing the reference number given, they said this was being done but the applicant still needed to produce photocopies of the documents required.

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With the advent of this technology era of our world,
you really don't know what is to be expected with
the things done in our government departments..