BINTULU, April 14 (Bernama) — Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing has urged the Bintulu branch of the National Registration Department (NRD) to immediately address the problem of MyKid (children’s identity cards) applications.

In a statement today, Tiong said the current manual application process made it difficult for the public, with applicants having to wait a long time for the document to be issued.

He said residents need to fill in the application forms at the Bintulu NRD before the forms are sent for processing to the NRD headquarters in Kuching and then returned to the Bintulu NRD upon completion for collection by the applicants.

Those who wished to get it done urgently would need to proceed either to the Kuching NRD or branches at Urban Transformation Centre (UTC) Kuching, UTC Sibu or UTC Miri.

“Please understand how it feels for people to travel to seek services in locations far away from their homes,” he said in a statement here today.

Tiong, who is also the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to China, urged the Bintulu NRD to overcome the problems faced as quickly as possible.

“At the same time, I will also raise this matter with Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin,” said Tiong, who is also the Dudong state assemblyman.

It is understood that the Bintulu NRD had applied for computers and machines to produce the MyKid cards, however, the approval was given to the NRD branches that operated at the UTCs.

Prior to this, plans to set up a UTC in Bintulu had been scrapped by the Pakatan Harapan government, resulting in the unavailability of the MyKid service in the division.

Therefore, Tiong is hoping that the Finance Ministry will reconsider the plan to establish a UTC in Bintulu for the benefit of the people, including upgrading the Bintulu NRD.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency