KLUANG: Parents who fail to register their children within 60 days after their birth will be fined RM1,000, reports Bernama.
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said the fine, which would be imposed with immediate effect, was not aimed at collecting revenue but to compel parents to register their children’s births within the prescribed period.
The fine for late registration was RM50 previously.
He said the government decided to increase the penalty following the amendments to the Births and Deaths Registration and Adoption Act (Act 299) which were approved and passed by the Dewan Rakyat last year, which also stipulate that all births must be registered within 60 days, including for illegitimate babies.
He told reporters this after opening the new Simpang Renggam National Registration Department (NRD) branch office in Taman Indah, near here, yesterday.
In August, the government enforced the extension period for late birth registration from 42 days to 60 days, to provide more time for single parents or single mothers to complete their confinement period before registering their newborns.
Nur Jazlan acknowledged that the situation between the peninsular states and Sabah and Sarawak were different as parents in East Malaysia, especially in rural areas, may face problems of distance and location to visit NRD offices to register births, compared to their peninsular counterparts who have good facilities in terms of communication, transportation and close proximity to NRD offices.
Meanwhile, he also disclosed the government has allocated a 30-day period for applicants of identification cards who have yet to claim their identification documents at the NRD offices, failing which, the documents will be disposed.
He added that based on NRD records, 106,000 identification cards have yet to be claimed by their owners over the last three years.
