Penalty for late registration of MyKad waived, details out soon —­ Home Ministry

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KUCHING: The government will announce soon the details for the penalty of late registration for MyKad to be waived.

“The government has already made a decision. The details would be announced by our minister (Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein) soon,” said Home Affairs Ministry secretary general Datuk Sri Mahmood Adam yesterday.

He added, “There is no need to amend the ordinance, it is already the rule. The government is aware of the geographical difficulty in Sarawak. If it is genuine, no problem (to waive the penalty)”.

He told a press conference after his meeting with  representatives from 10 agencies under the ministry at Bangunan Sultan Iskandar here that the state National Registration Department (JPN) had at least five mobile teams assigned in the interior areas to help the people to get their MyKad done.

Taking the proactive role by going to the interior folk was the approach adopted by the ministry, he said.

As of  Nov 9, 2010, state JPN had registered 23,818 residents. The group represented 55.39 per cent of 43,000 yet to have MyKads.

Meanwhile 6,276 out of 19,171 residents without birth cert  had registered with the department, representing 32.73 per cent.

On counters operating during weekend by JPN and Immigration Department, Mahmood defended it by saying that it was not an act to show off (batuk atas tangga).

He explained that the idea was actually suggested by staff of the Immigration Department.

“It (operating counters during weekend) is not stated in the rules neither instructed by the government but it is the initiative of the Immigration Department. It started in Melaka in 2007. We have extended it to other major cities after the service received overwhelming response from the people.

“To me, it is not ‘batuk atas tangga’ but it shows their effort to improve their services,” he stressed.

Immigration Department only provides passport application service during weekends while JPN has three services namely identity card application, marriage registration and birth registration.