Problem of status of religion on MyKad

suppadmin | April 19, 2017

SUPP Public Complaints Bureau (PCB) was recently approached by a chinese man married to a bidayuh who requested for assistance on a problem he has been facing for more than ten years.

His problem first arose when he changed his old Identity Card to the digital based MyKad more than ten years ago as the MyKad stated that his religion was “Islam”. The man insisted that he never converted to a Muslim and as such he wanted to remove the word “Islam” from his MyKad.

Following the man’s request for assistance, he was brought to the National Registration Department, Kuching at Simpang Tiga to find out the cause of his predicament and also to see what can be done to resolve the problem faced by him.

Upon checking with the Birth Certificate Section, the officer informed that their records showed that the chinese man was not a muslim and referred the matter to the Identity Card Section. The officer at the Identity Card Section than explained the procedure involved for the rectification of the chinese man’s MyKad.

The procedure involved is actually quite simple which is by way of a statutory declaration made by him that he never converted to “Islam” and an application to rectify and remove the word “Islam” from his Mykad. The approval process would usually take 4 to 6 months.