Last digit of MyKad doesn’t indicate gender, says Masir

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Datuk Masir Kujat

KUCHING: The last digit of the Malaysian identity card or MyKad number is not indicative of the holder’s gender, said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Masir Kujat.

He said the last four digits of the MyKad number are computer generated.

“So it would be wrong to assume that the last digit indicates gender because it is generated by the computer system,” Masir said when commenting on the case of a woman who faced difficulties as the last digit of her MyKad is an odd number.

National Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Women’s vice-president Voon Shiak Ni had claimed the woman faced difficulties when applying for a visa at the Australian Embassy because her MyKad number did not seem to comply with the format for gender.

It is generally believed that the last digit of the MyKad is an even number for women and an odd number for men.

Masir pledged to follow up with the National Registration Department (JPN) in Putrajaya before clarifying on the case.

The Sri Aman MP’s statement came as a surprise as there have been several well-documented cases of Malaysians going to court to have the MyKad number changed to reflect their gender.

Masir urged those with similar complaints to refer their cases to the nearest JPN office.

On Thursday, Voon said the woman’s visa application was rejected by the Australian Embassy with the note, “Error: Invalid National Number Format”.

“She told us that she had appealed four times to JPN over the past 15 years but until today, she still cannot get the last digit rectified to indicate that she is female,” Voon said.

“She then went to JPN again and JPN Sarawak extracted the ‘Cabutan Daftar Kad Pengenalan’ to support her verification of her identity.”

According to Voon, the woman has consistently been queried by the authorities on occasions when she is required to present her MyKad for verification.

“We are given to understand that JPN cannot rectify mistakes made on the last digit on the card, which indicates our gender and this is unacceptable,” Voon said.

“JPN needs to note that a mistake on the MyKad cannot be left uncorrected as it is a big problem for those affected to cope with the hassles and setbacks in efforts related to the verification of one’s identity.”