PETALING JAYA: The multi-purpose MyKad will soon make the traditional punch clock at government departments a thing of the past.

A computer system to record staff attendance is now being used at the National Registration Department here and this would be upgraded to a “contactless” system after the NRD moves to its new headquarters at Putrajaya next year.

Outgoing NRD director-general Datuk Azizan Ayob said the department had been using a computer system hooked up to a MyKad reader for its staff attendance system over the past year.

The NRD will also introduce MyKad as a security access card for the public.

“The Government Security Department has agreed for the NRD to be the pilot project for the punch card system and security access system before recommending other departments to use MyKad,” he said.

Azizan said Northport had started to use MyKad for security access. Penang Port and the Port of Tanjung Pelepas in Johor will follow suit soon.

Azizan, 57, clocked in for the last time at his office here yesterday. He retires after 32 years in the civil service and has been NRD director-general since 1997.

He said that his greatest achievement was getting all of the NRD's 184 branch offices fully-computerised in record time in 2001, including the ones at five remote areas in Sabah and Sarawak which was linked via satellite.

He is also proud of introducing MyKad for adults and MyKid for children. “The two (computer system and smartcard) projects were supposed to be implemented together but I decided that the computer system must first be in place before we could introduce the smartcard effectively,” he said.