PUTRAJAYA, Dec 30 — The National Registration Department (NRD) claims its “new structure MyKad”, rolling out on January 3, will be tough to forge.

Director general Datuk Jariah Moh Said told reporters today the department will use “the latest laser technology” to print the new MyKads which will have a “ghost image” of the identification cardholder that cannot be removed from the card.

“Usually they will just change the colour photo. But if you try to alter the ghost image, it will destroy the whole card,” she said of the image which is printed below the surface layer.

Opposition lawmakers have claimed that Barisan Nasional (BN) has given at least 1,600 foreigners MyKads between March to June alone so they can vote for the ruling coalition in the next general election.

Pakatan Rakyat had claimed in August that 1,108 permanent residents in the Klang Valley were given the status of full citizens in a single day alone.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has since formed a bipartisan parliamentary committee to look into these claims and other electoral reforms.

Jariah also said the new cards would be made of a tougher polycarbonate and a higher-quality smartchip which will have a 80 kilobyte capacity instead of the 64kb currently available.

She added the move was in response to complaints that the original MyKad, rolled out in 2000, was not durable and the smartchip often could not be read.

Although she could not reveal how many complaints NRD had received and the cost of the initiative, she said the cost of producing each MyKad would now only be RM24.50 instead of RM27.20 previously.

When first launched, the original MyKad was said to be capable of additional functions such as holding driver’s license information and electronic commerce.

But most of these initiatives have been unsuccessful due to the lack of market adoption and unreliable smartchips.

The new MyKads will be introduced in Shah alam and Putrajaya on January 3 and then rolled out across the country over the next six weeks.