Digest on Malaysian News

http://www.jpn.gov.my/ the National Registration Department's (NRD) official website crashed after the Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop announced that Malaysian can replace their MyKad through online application. Their website is not prepared in the surge of traffic and I am now more doubtful if their application is secured or not.



Via TheStar: Application to replace IC can be done online

The public can now apply for a replacement of their MyKad online through the National Registration Department's (NRD) official website.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop said the alternative method would allow people to obtain their identity cards without having to go to the NRD counters which would also help reduce congestion at the NRD headquarters and its branches.

“There are three different kinds of replacement applications, viz for damaged chips or cards, normal replacement and replacement of lost MyKad not more than five times,” he said after opening the 2010 Excellent Service Awards 2010 presentation to 341 NRD staff members here yesterday.

Also present was NRD director-general Datuk Alwi Ibrahim.

Abu Seman said online payment for replacement cards could be made using credit cards, while the e-Banking facility would be made available in the future.

He said applications could be made through NRD's portal from 8am to 11pm on Monday to Friday, 8am to 2pm on Saturday and 8am to 9pm on Sunday.

“Applicants can view the status of their MyKad applications online and select where to collect their cards from.”

He said so far, the department had received 15 applications since the trial run on April 15, including one from a Malaysian in Australia.

The time taken to process the online applications is the same as for counter applications, which is 24 hours for those collecting from the Putrajaya NRD, 10 working days from any other NRD office in the peninsula and 30 working days from any NRD branch in Sabah, Sarawak or Labuan, reported Bernama.

Meanwhile, Malaysians living overseas lauded the development, saying the new online application process for their MyKad was a timely change.

They said the new method of online application at www.jpn.gov.my would save them from having to go through the hassle of travelling to Malaysian embassies in the country where they were staying to apply.

Sam Loke, 29, a postgraduate student in finance from the University of Queensland said the move will benefit students the most.

“Usually if we want to get replacements, we have to make a trip to Canberra where the High Commission is. This means we have to skip classes, which is hard to do,” he said.

“The online application brings much convenience and I'm thankful that the Government has decided to introduce this,” he added.

Canterbury Malaysian Students' Association president Poh Eng Eu, 22, said he had just applied for his MyKad a few weeks ago when he returned to Malaysia.

“If I had known, I would have done it online because it is so much easier,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Malaysian Students' Association in Japan president Awadh Asyraf Supri hoped the new system would work out as he remembered how congested NRD offices were when he went to get his MyKad.