MyKad now a travel document
Remember the MyKad? The smartcard in the scary story?
Well, now we're going to start using it in lieu of passports:
"The use of MyKad for Malaysians travelling to Brunei has already been agreed to and will start next month," Registration Department director-general Datuk Wan Ibrahim Wan Ahmad said.
Despite this, Malaysians will still have to carry their passports with them when travelling out of the country:
"When travel with MyKad is permissible, it is advisable for Malaysians to bring their passports along, anyway, for purposes of identification once they arrive overseas," Deputy Home Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung said, adding that having an upgraded MyKad did not make the passport redundant.
He also noted that, although Malaysian immigration counters would be equipped with scanners to read the MyKad, other countries would not necessarily recognise it as a valid travel document, so the passport would still be needed to gain entry into said country. So what's the point?
This is just like how, although the driving licence is incorporated into the MyKad, we're told it might be prudent to carry a separate licence anyway because traffic police sometimes aren't equipped with the scanners to read the chip. Is that my fault? Why should I need to apply for a separate licence (and pay more fees) when I already have my licence?
On a different note... now that my driver's licence information is all stored on the MyKad chip, how am I going to find out when my licence expires? I renewed it for five years the last time round, and five years is a long enough time in which to forget when the expiry date is supposed to be.
I thought technology was supposed to make our lives easier?