Don't take late birth registration lightly - Wan Junaidi

He said that birth registration was important for children to be able to enjoy benefits accorded by the government, especially in education.

He said, although the case of delayed birth registration often occurred in remote areas there were also parents in the city who failed to register their children within 42 days of a child being born as stated by the National Registration Department (NRD).

"Sometimes parents got too excited to have a baby and forget to register their birth, or they did not know the process so they will have difficulties to register after the deadline.

"If the children are not registered, it is feared it will become a social problem in the future because the child does not receive an education and is unable to be independent," he told reporters after presenting citizenship status to 15 individuals at his office, Friday.

Wan Junaidi said most of the cases involving the late birth registration were caused by living in remote areas or parents' marriage was not registered.

"In the remote interiors of Sabah or Sarawak it may be be difficult for them to go to the town due to the high cost, so the NRD has conducted an outreach programme to raise awareness about the importance of personal identification documents.