Malaysians Will Get New ID Cards Equipped with Facial Recognition Technology

Illustration of an ID card and other physical documents in a wallet. (Georgi Dyulgerov-Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Malaysian government will introduce biometric data for its citizens' new national identity cards. This biometric data collection is based on proposed amendments to the National Registration Act 1959.

Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Shamsul Anuar Nasarah announced that the new measures will include ten fingerprint images, iris scanning, and facial recognition technology.

He emphasized the urgent need to improve biometric data collection methods to comply with current security requirements and information protection standards.

"This improvement is in line with our proposal to introduce a new structured identity card with enhanced security features," Shamsul said during a joint parliamentary meeting on Wednesday, August 27, as quoted by Bernama.

The National Registration (Amendment) Bill 2025 was successfully passed by the Dewan Rakyat through a vote in parliament on Wednesday, August 27.

According to records, Malaysian authorities have made 795 arrests for various violations of regulations stipulated by the National Registration Department between 2021 and August 2025.

Of these cases, 326 individuals faced charges for possessing fake ID cards or using someone else's identity document.

The Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Registration Department of Malaysia are simultaneously developing a new generation of ID cards to replace the current version, introduced in 2012.