Malaysians as young as 12 to be auto-registered to MyDigital ID in bid to up usage

Malaysia is ramping up efforts to increase the MyDigital ID registration rate, with automatic registrations for children and those who lose their MyKad (a government-issued identity card that holds biometric data).

The country’s home minister unveiled a new strategy from the National Registration Department (NRD) to implement what his government sees as a vital Digital ID programme, with the NRD tasked with accelerating uptake.

“To increase [the number of registrations], the strategy we discussed earlier in the meeting is that NRD will pre-register Malaysians when they reach the age of 12,” home minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said.

Malaysia’s prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim launched MyDigital ID last year but has expressed frustration at its slow progress. His home minister said only 1.8 million of his country’s citizens have registered for it to date.

“This figure is still low, whereas the benefits of MyDigital ID are huge because it will verify the identity of every individual dealing with government departments and will eventually be used in the private sector as well,” Saifuddin said, as quoted in Bernama.

The minister said that when Malaysians go to the NRD when they lose their MyKad they will be automatically registered to MyDigital ID. The Southeast Asian country projects registration rates to rise in the second quarter, April 1 to June 30, of this year.

The government hopes increased usage will allow citizens to engage in public services via a single sign-on system, with its use a “major requirement” in government dealings, while in the future there is the possibility of extending MyDigital ID’s use to the private sector, the home minister said.

From the start of this month, Malaysians could check the status of their Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) – an initiative that provides cash assistance to the poor and vulnerable – or their applications for cash aid at the official STR portal using MyDigital ID.

The country’s Inland Revenue Board (IRB) allows a single sign-on option via MyDigital ID for its MyTax taxation system and the Rahmah cash aid assistance system MySTR. According to the IRB, 578,828 users so far have used MyDigital ID to access MyTax for tax identification number (TIN) search. The implementation began on January 1.

Malaysia has big plans for digital ID, with the aim of building what it terms a “national digital identity ecosystem” with a MyDigital ID super-app that’ll include a suite of tools. This would include a digital wallet and would likely extend to allowing direct logins into existing mobile apps or commercial service providers offering their services as mini-apps on the MyDigital ID super-app. The super-app is built on the Malaysia Blockchain Infrastructure. The proof of concept is expected to be released in the first quarter of this year.

Article Topics

digital government  |  digital ID  |  identity management  |  Malaysia  |  MyDigital ID  |  MyDigital ID Superapp  |  MyKad  |  national ID  |  super app