THE National Registration Department (NRD) has started the full nationwide rollout of MyKad. The implementation will see all of the department’s offices being able to issue MyKad incorporating all eight applications currently available.

At present, only MyKads issued at the 13 NRD branches in the Klang Valley have all the applications, which include four government applications – identification, driving licence, immigration information and health information. The remaining four are private sector applications which are the Malaysian Electronic Payment System Cash, Touch ‘n Go, automated teller machine, and public key infrastructure (PKI).

Cards issued outside of the Klang Valley mainly have the identification function.

The national rollout will enable NRD offices outside of the Klang Valley to either issue new MyKads with all the applications or add applications to existing cards, said NRD’s Government Multipurpose Card project director Wan Md Ariffin Wan Ismail. As part of the initiative, targeted for completion by the end of next year, NRD is linking up all its 184 branches nationwide to the Government Service Centre Back-office (GSCB) hub located at the NRD headquarters in Petaling Jaya.

In addition, Wan Ariffin said the department will implement an integrated MyKad user interfacing system at the branches’ computers used by the officers to process MyKad applications.

The GSCB hub links the department’s system with other host systems which applications are featured on MyKad such as the Road Transport Department and the Immigration Department.

“The rollout will be implemented in phases, starting with NRD branches in State capitals, followed by bigger towns, before completing the work at all NRD’s 184 branches nationwide,” Wan Ariffin told Computimes in Petaling Jaya on Monday.

According to him, NRD is also talking to other government agencies to explore other possible functions for MyKad. “We are even talking to the private sector on ways to promote the use of MyKad through initiatives such as loyalty programmes,” he said, adding that the department will continue to encourage the use of MyKad apart from its identification functionality.

“What users need to do is register with the various services offered such as PKI to access to the functionalities. The platform is given free with MyKad. Of course there are registration fees associated with these services as determined by the providers.”

Wan Ariffin said MyKad could also be used in other ways. The open data concept of the identification function, for example, can enable MyKad to be used by any organisation as part of its access control system.

“What’s required is a card reader that could read the open data on MyKad and link the information to the organisation’s access control system,” he added.