Deputy Home Minister Datuk Dr Wan JunaidiTuankuJaafar disclosed the numbers of lost or stolen MyKad in 2010, 2011 and 2012 as 397079, 413068 and 429137, respectively[1-Parliament Hansard dated 20 November 2013.]. As reported by the New Straits Times, the Deputy Minister said it was possible that these lost or stolen MyKad were sold to syndicates, who in turn sold them to foreigners[2].
Extra attention must be given to the number of MyKad lost in 2013 and the reasons behind it.
This year, according to the Deputy Minister, as of October 31, 565,157 MyKad were reportedly lost or stolen. This is a phenomenal increase compared to 2012. Compared to 429,137 MyKad lost or stolen in 2012, 136,020 more were lost or stolen in 2013 (with another two months to go) which is 32% higher than the previous year. For 2012 and 2011, the number of MyKad lost is about 3% higher than its previous year.
The number of MyKads reportedly lost from Jan 1, 2013 to Oct 31, 2013 is 565,157. That is equivalent to 1860 MyKad lost per day. Every Minute, there is more than 1 (actually 1.2) MyKad lost in Malaysia.
The numbers of babies born in Malaysia in 2013 is about half a million. The numbers of MyKad lost is just too staggeringly high. Every minute, one baby born in Malaysia, more than one MyKad lost or stolen.
Based on Dr Wan Junaidi, 565,157 pieces of MyKad were reportedly lost or stolen among our approximately 22 million Malaysian citizens who hold a MyKad. This means in every 200 Malaysians (age above 12, MyKad holder), 5 had their MyKad lost or stolen this year!
This is extraordinarily high. The Minister must now disclose the statistics breakdown of these lost MyKads in accordance to the location of reported loss (state, district and mukim). I presume that the statistics disclosed by the Deputy Minister in Dewan Rakyat on November 20 were compiled by adding up the numbers reported by JPN branches or police stations all over Malaysia. I demand the Minister or his deputy to tell us further, the statistics breakdown of these lost or stolen MyKads from Jan 1, 2013 to Oct 31 according to months, which district and in which state?
Failure to furnish the public with more information and to shed more lights on the subject will inevitably cause further erosion of public trust in the government. This is especially serious given that the agency involved is entrusted with the very important task to safeguard the registry of our Malaysian citizenship.
Further, it is very tempting to associate the extraordinarily high numbers of MyKad lost in 2013 with the occurrence of General Election in 2013. The onus is now on the government to provide plausible explanations by giving us facts and numbers, and to take immediate actions to safeguard our national interest.
Table 1: Number of MyKad Lost or Stolen 2010 – 2013 according to the Home Ministry compared against Malaysian Population
| Year | Population | Number of MyKad Lost | + / – compared to previous year | % MyKad Lost |
| 2010 | 28,588,600 | 397,079 | – | 1.4% |
| 2011 | 28,964,300 | 413,068 | 15,989 | 1.4% |
| 2012 | 29,336,800 | 429,137 | 16,069 | 1.5% |
| 2013* | 29,703,510 | 565,157 | 136,020 | 1.9% |
* As of Oct 31, 2013