Malaysian Government to Implement National Biometric Registration System

Malaysia’s National Registration Department (JPN) is looking to implement a biometric registration system for all official identifying documents in an attempt to boost national security.

According to Rusline Jusoh, director-general of national registration, the documents involved in the effort will include citizenship, marriage, birth and adoption certificates, none of which currently have any biometric identification characteristics.

Biometric elements like DNA data and facial recognition capabilities will be used to allow JPN officers to conduct investigations when there is suspicion of fraud or misuse.

‘’The biometric elements are important. Currently, the identities of the populace depend on the fingerprint,” Jusoh said in a recent interview to a domestic news outlet. “We will improve the existing security features, including creating facial recognition,’’ he added.

Malaysia’s efforts follow similar biometric registration programs around the world, perhaps most notably in India where the massive Aadhaar program has been gaining increasing public attention for its staggering scale.

A study on the implementation of the biometric system is to be conducted this year in cooperation with the health ministry and the Malaysian Chemistry Department, according to Jusoh. He also stressed that new legal policies would need to be created to ensure security and privacy before the new system could be implemented.

The upgrading effort is among JPN’s efforts to ensure that citizen registration records and documents are always updated and in line with the Public Safety and Security Policy.

‘’We are always committed to ensuring the people’s identification record’s registration system is taken care of in an orderly manner, comprehensive, systematic, accurate and up-to-date,” he said.

Jusoh said that he hopes the study to determine the best method and implementation of the system will be concluded before the end of the year.

Source: FMT News, The Malaysian Insight

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February 11, 2020 – by Tony Bitzionis