New MyKad won’t function as Touch ‘n Go – JPN D-G

National registration department (JPN) director-general Datuk Badrul Hisham Alias has revealed that the new MyKad (informally called the identity card or IC), which is expected to be introduced next month, will not be able to function as a Touch ‘n Go (TnG) card, Bernama reports.

Why this is so has not been officially divulged – perhaps the reasons are security- and theft-related. But your TnG card can just as easily be stolen, and you can always terminate the card in the event of theft and get your money back.

Personally, I have always found the MyKad’s TnG feature to be extremely useful – after all, my MyKad is always with me and I then don’t have to carry a separate TnG card around. It’s also useful for emergencies, such as when you inadvertently leave your TnG card in another car – you will always be able to pay toll, parking or hop on the LRT. OK, it’s not NFC-enabled so I can’t reload it using my phone, but that’s the only drawback I can see.

However, after 10 happy years of convenience, this boon was taken away from me last year when my MyKad’s TnG finally expired. Thankfully, I was at KL Sentral at the time, so it was a short walk to NU Sentral’s Touch ‘n Go Hub. There I was told that renewal wasn’t possible and that if I wanted to continue using my MyKad as a TnG card, I had to go and get a new MyKad, which of course I didn’t bother with.

Anyway, you don’t have to rush to replace your MyKads once the new one is out. “The law does not require holders of the existing MyKad to immediately replace their cards once the new version is introduced,” Bernama quoted home minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail as saying recently.

So if you’re a MyKad TnG user, presumably you should be able to continue using your current MyKad as a TnG card until your 10-year validity expires, unless any contrary future announcements are made.

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