Information AboutMykad |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT MYKAD | |
| authentication methods | |
| economy of malaysia | |
| personal identification | |
| malaysian law | |
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NAME The names MyKad and MyKid are both a form of Dajare , or a play on words. ''My'' can mean ''MY'', the ISO-3166-1 country code for Malaysia (more widely known in its form as the Country Code Top-level Domain .my ), or the English First Person Possessive Pronoun ''my'', indicating ownership of the card. ''Kad'' is a transliteration of the English word ''Card'' (pronunciation and meaning is the same in Malay ), as well as an Acronym or Backronym of ''Kad Akuan Diri'' which translates to 'Personal Identification Card'. ''Kid'' is an English slang for ''child'' and also stands for ''Kad Identiti Diri'', which means ''Personal Identity Card''. ELIGIBILITY AND ADOPTION All Malaysian citizens and permanent residents 12 years old or above are currently eligible for a MyKad. From 2001, it gradually replaced an older Malaysian Identity Card system, that had been in use since 1949 under British Colonial rule, with the intention of becoming ubiquitous by 2007. By 5 May 2004, about 10 million cards were in general use and another 9 million Malaysians planned to switch to the MyKad by the end of 2005. Adoption was optional but spurred by the waiving of the application fee of between RM 20 and RM50 until 1 January 2006. As of 27 December 2005, 1,180,208 Malaysians still held an old IC, which caused outdoor queues over 200 metres long and extension of office hours till the early morning, when, as the end of the grace period neared, thousands of people flocked to their nearest National Registration Department office to replace their ID cards. All newborn babies are issued with a MyKid at the hospital. This is "upgraded" to a MyKad on the 12th birthday. The MyKad must be replaced 6 to 8 years after the first one is issued, as it is a requirement that the photograph be 'current'. The MyKad must be carried by all persons when leaving their home. TECHNICAL SPECIFICS AND APPLICATIONS The MyKad is a piece of plastic with an embedded microchip and has the dimensions of a standard credit card. The original card contained a 32 Kb EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory ) chip running on the M-COS (MyKad Chip Operating System) Operating System . In November 2002, the capacity was increased to 64Kb. A register of all cardholders is kept by the National Registration Department of Malaysia, which operates the MyKad system. Citizens own a blue coloured card, while that for PRs is brown; the MyKid is pink in colour. The MyKad project was developed at a cost of RM276 million and was originally intended to have four functions:
However, four further applications were added before or during its initial release,
The extensible design of the card may be leading to Functionality Creep . Further applications envisaged by the government include:
The MyKid has no Photograph of the owner, and only contains three categories of data:
Information on certificates or other letters, to fix their information. In December 2005, the government apologized for the problems caused and attempted to rectify the correction procedure by providing a single form, Form A. A 12-digit number (format: YYMMDD-SS-###G, used since 1991) known as the Identification Card number (IC) is issued to MyKad holders. The first group of numbers (YYMMDD) are the date of birth. The second group of numbers (SS) represents the place of birth of the holder - the States (01-13), the federal territories (14-17) or the country of origin. The last group of numbers (###G) is a serial number in an unidentified pattern which may denote the ethnic group, blood type and religion of the individual. The last digit (G) is an odd number for a male, while an even number is given for a female. PKI AND MYKAD MyKad PKI application allows for 2 digital certificates to be inserted in the MyKad. MyKad holders can apply and purchase the digital certificates from 2 of Malaysia's Certification Authority , MSCTrustgate.com Sdn. Bhd. and DigiCert Sdn. Bhd. . PKI allows for easy securing of private data over public Networks , thus allowing, secure electronic transactions over the Internet which include:
MYKAD IN OTHER COUNTRIES From 1 January 2003 , MyKad was available to citizens of Brunei . One of its uses is as a travel document between Malaysia and Brunei. However, in 2006, Singapore rejected the use of MyKad by frequent Malaysian travellers to enter the country, citing security concerns. The MyKad is one of the seven Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Flagship Applications of the Malaysian government. The others are:
REFERENCES
SEE ALSO Hong Kong Identity Card , the second Smart ID card system EXTERNAL LINKS
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