Southeast Asian countries align on approach to digital identity adoption

There are several different models of national digital IDs followed around the world, and several different methods of managing them. Southeast Asian countries Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia have put their national ID agencies in charge, and now Malaysia has followed their lead, hoping for greater public adoption.

World Bank Senior Digital Development Specialist Jonathan Marskell points out in a LinkedIn post that Vietnam and Thailand have each signed up well over 20 million people. Indonesia has surpassed 14 million. Malaysia, however, lags behind, with only 1.8 million users.

Marskell’s colleague Julián Najles, who plays a similar role in Latin America, notes that in his region of focus Brazil and Argentina have had more success with programs run by government digital agencies than Colombia and Peru have had with ID agencies in charge.

Malaysia has put its National Registration Department (NRD) in charge of the MyDigital ID initiative. As Marskell points out, Malaysia’s digital ID is based on a single sign-in (SSO) system, rather than a digital representation of its biometric ID card, MyKad.

The NRD will begin pre-registering Malaysians when they reach 12 years old and when they report they have lost their MyKad in an attempt to boost sign-ups.

Malaysia’s Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) and MyDigital ID Sdn. Bhd signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Thursday intended to help accelerate digital ID adoption in the country.

The MoU addresses the integration of MyDigital ID with the MyTax and MrSTR tax platforms, The Star reports. MyDigital ID has been used by just over 687,000 users to access the MyTax portal, according to the report.

In the nearby Philippines, 84 million people have signed up for the national digital ID, and the country is busily connecting it to public services, but so far it has enabled just over 100 million transactions, or just over one per person, Department of Information and Communications Technology Undersecretary for E-Government David Almirol said during a MOSIP Connect 2025 keynote last week. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is responsible for the digital ID project, in collaboration with the DICT.

Vietnam advancing vision for digital transformation

Vietnam is not resting on any laurels for hitting the 20-million user mark. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh signed a directive to accelerate the collection of residents’ data, the implementation of digital ID and the development of authentication applications under the country’s Project 06 digital transformation initiative, state outlet VNA reports.

The Ministry of Justice has been tasked with spurring civil registration, which has enrolled the biometrics of over 70 million people in the last two years, while the Ministry of Public Security has been ordered to formulate decrees to operationalize Vietnam’s data protection law by July 1.

An online visa system is being set up for those who have already submitted fingerprint and iris biometrics, with a goal of completion in April. The country also plans to implement biometrics and the VNeID platform at all borders by September, through the coordination of the Ministries of Construction and Public Security.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital identity  |  government services  |  identity management  |  Indonesia  |  Malaysia  |  MyDigital ID  |  national ID  |  Philippines  |  Project 06  |  Vietnam  |  VNeID  |  World Bank