KUALA LUMPUR: The government does not intend to collect fingerprints in the implementation of the National Digital Identity (NDID) programme as claimed by many content creators on various social media platforms, the Dewan Negara was told today.

Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said since the announcement about the programme was made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, there have been a lot of inaccurate, misleading, and false content circulated on social media claiming that the government would be collecting fingerprints for the purpose.

"Even though the NDID programme is under MIMOS and not KKD (Ministry of Communications and Digital), I take this opportunity to clarify that we do not intend to collect fingerprints. The Digital ID is a single sign-on initiative and this is what we are trying to convey to the people.

"Fingerprint information and other biometric identifiers are under the (purview of the) Home Ministry and the National Registration Department," he said in reply to Senator Manolan Mohamad.

Prior to this, the KKD had also assured that the NDID would not compromise the security of the personal data of the people. It was also said that the initiative has been adopted in several countries such as Estonia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

On Nov 21, Anwar announced that the government had appointed the national research and development centre, MIMOS Berhad, as the implementing agency for the NDID programme with an initial allocation of RM80 million.

According to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the NDID facilitates citizens to transact face-to-face or remotely in the digital realm with service providers from both the public and private sectors for secure, guaranteed, and time-saving identity verification.

-- BERNAMA