Who will be happy with the government's push for MyKad by 2005, the smart card which powerful microchip is supposed to contain entire one's biodata including marital status and voting constituency?

If MyKad incorporates variables like marital status, address and voting constituency that change, then Mykad will itself have to be updated at cost and time to users. It is all right for older folks if they don't foresee much change, but what about the younger ones? As far as information that does not change such as name, birth, age, parents, and citizenship, the birth certificates and identity cards will suffice.

When everything is dependent on a smart card, imagine the inconvenience when it is misplaced, stolen or lost. Can our bureaucracy, noted for its dilatoriness, process a replacement fast enough?

The government says that this country is not a terrorist's nest, so why do we need a smart card (say) when you enter the airport and present it for scanning?

Sensitive information like voter constituency and marital status should be excluded as this bears on the important issue of civil liberties .

For example, if I were from a constituency noted to be opposition's stronghold, will I be subject to adverse discriminatory treatment at the hands of government bureaucracy? It is not that I actually might but it is the government's part to allay my fears on this possibility!

As a further example, if I were a single unwed mother working in the civil service, won't the supply of information to the authorities on my marital status or non-status be prejudicial to me? Won't it bring me ridicule and scorn in my place of work? Won't the prevailing morality (especially with resurgence of Islamic consciousness) that looks askance at single mother or father, militate against me in office especially if I work in the civil service? This move will victimise many other experienced and skilled civil servants on the basis of their sensitive 'marital status' and force them to leave the service!

What is the rationale for MyKad to incorporate marital status? To subtly enforce morality? This move is a flagrant trammeling of civil rights because my marital status or non-status is private and the government need not know more than what is recorded in the registry of marriage.

Equally, this applies to voter constituency: If voting is secret why should constituency be disclosed which if the constituency is the opposition's dominant, may prejudice us when we interface with government authorities in our daily lives?

There is no connection at all between marital status and voter constituency and the objectives of this smart card which are basically, I suppose, to facilitate authorities' monitoring of citizenry, processing applications and isolating non-citizens, criminals and terrorists.

In time to come, the smart card may be used to incorporate personal data on where we work, places where we hang out and people we associate with. We are down the slippery slope of erosion of fundamental civil rights and surely we don't want George Orwell's Animal Farm here where the state would know everything using technology.

But back to the question as to who is really happy. I would say it is the company that is awarded the contract to make the MyKad for the millions that will be prosperous while the rest of us have to suffer the inconvenience and indirect surveillance when we deal with authorities.

It is true that many would support its use for convenience to their circumstances, but don't make its use compulsory by 2005 for others who may not find it convenient, and even if the government must do so, the data on voter constituency and marital status should be entirely excluded on privacy and civil rights grounds.