Singapore NRIC as an identity
Singapore had a good system for decades. Each resident is issued with an identity card (i.e. NRIC). It contained his photo. The physical card is used to identify the person when it is necessary, e.g. voting, or entry to a building.

It is possible for a criminal to create a fake NRIC card and alter the photo. This risk is not serious, as there is nothing much that the criminal can do with a fake NRIC. 

The criminal can use a fake NRIC to apply for a SIM card for a mobile phone. This is not a serious problem anyway. Most vendors do not pay attention to the NRIC card, apart from complying with regulations. 

Even if a criminal use a fake NRIC card to open a bank account, there is nothing much that the criminal can do with the bank account. Anyway, the bank is required to carry out a more thorough "know your customer" check before approving the bank account. 

Basically, the NRIC card is a convenient way to identify a person, although it is not 100% foolproof. 

There was a past practice for a building security guard to retain the NRIC card in exchange for the access card to the building. This is a bad practice. It has now been stopped. 

Another bad practice was for a business entity to accept a scanned copy of the NRIC as proof of identity. This practice is quite common and is practically useless. A criminal can have a scanned image to impersonate the actual person.

The NRIC card system can now be expanded to become more useful in the modern age. (These features may have already been implemented to some degree, although I suspect that it was not widespread):

a) Register a person's fingerprint and face in a database, to be linked to the NRIC number. This allows authorised parties to send the fingerprint or facial image for verification against the database. 

b) Allow the holder of the NRIC to register a password and a 2FA token (usually on a mobile phone). This allows a person to log in with the credentials and be identified online. It has a stronger security than relying on the presentation of the physical card for verification. 

In recent years, the government authority implemented a practice that the NRIC number should be kept confidential. This is counter-productive. 

The NRIC number is an excellent way to identify a person. By keeping it confidential, the value of the NRIC is largely diminished. 

It does not matter that the NRIC number is known to the public at large. They need to have the password and the 2FA device to complete the access to a database that contain their personal record.  These access data are not available to the criminals. Even if the criminal is able to access these access data, the owner is able to change them.

Many other countries do not have a system of identity using a NRIC card. They face the risk of identity theft and impersonation. Ths is a problem that they need to deal with. 

Singapore already has a good system of identity. We should strengthen this system and use it to our advantage. We should not degenerate to deal with imaginary problems that are faced by other countries, and not by Singapore. 

Tan Kin Lian



 

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