I am in complete agreement with Khairul A Khalifah ( Digital IDs open to abuse ) and Jeffrey ( Dangers lurk in MyKad ) over their concern of privacy breach in the use of MyKad, the multipurpose identity card with an embedded chip.

There is an immense threat of people, particularly those in government, who are privy and have access to composite profiles of individuals to potentially abuse such privileged knowledge.

Equally dangerous is the fact that such a card can be a convenient tool of surveillance of private citizens. Not only can the government and the political leaders know, for instance your health, marital status and club affiliation, but they would also be in a position to monitor your physical movement.

Like the credit card, MyKad would be able to notify the authorities concerned about where you have been once you slide your card into any card-reading machine.

This is why such a card is still not used in many developed countries because citizens there realise that their right to privacy can be easily infringed.

So it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the convenience with which the card is often associated is only a ruse.