I applied for my new MyKad quite some time back, long before the deadline. My wife and I collected ours at the state National Registration Department office, the one near the Perak Medical College in Jelapang.

What was shocking was that people who had filled their religion as Christians were registered as 'Buddha'. Buddha was a person and Buddhism is a religion. There were a a large number of them. What really riled me the most was that I suddenly found myself converted to "Confucius". Confucius is a person, the practice or a way of life is known as "Confucianism". But I was against putting religion in the identity card from the beginning.

My next question is this: Is this a scam on the part of the NRD to make people pay for corrections? RM10 for every correction will amount to a substantial sum. I do not understand the rationale of that. Because of their gross incompetence and ineptitude, we have to pay a price?

On my part, I refuse to pay. I took a day off, of my limited and valuable off days, to renew and get this glorified MyKad. The next question is, can I claim for my mileage and for my off-day in cash for their blunders?

I think, and many others think so too, that the NRD people are monkeying around with the religion of others. Over and above, they want to rip people of their hard-earned money. I would also suggest that all NRD staff attend some kind of sensitivity training from the top down.

Or is there a hidden agenda behind all these doctored blunders?