MyKad loss: Govt proposes higher penalty

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the proposed higher penalty was for individuals who could not produce solid explanation and evidence on the loss of their identity cards.

"We (have proposed the) need to increase the penalty for the loss of Mykad on individuals who cannot produce solid evidence and explanation, unless the card was lost due to untoward incidents, such as fire," he said in reply to Senator Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakar at the Dewan Negara sitting here, Tuesday.

Abdul Rahman had wanted to know whether the government was planning to impose higher penalty for the loss of MyKad, especially for subsequent losses, as a deterrent for others.

Wan Junaidi also said the ministry would consider reinstating the requirement for a police report to be made on any cases of MyKad loss.

He said the abolishment of the requirement had resulted in local authorities having difficulties to carry out further investigation to ensure they were genuine and not related to cheating or syndicates.

Earlier, in reply to Senator Dr Ariffin Omar, Wan Junaidi said the allegation on the existence of a syndicate selling MyKad had yet to be proven true even though there was an increase in MyKad loss cases of late.

"Despite the annual increase, there was no evidence of the existence of such a syndicate.

"Several raids carried out by agencies under the ministry revealed that in most cases, the suspects were found to have used fake MyKad," he said.