The current identity card, known as MyKad, was introduced by the National Registration Department of Malaysia on 5 September 2001 as one of four MSC Malaysia flagship applications[1] and a replacement for the High Quality Identity Card (Kad Pengenalan Bermutu Tinggi), Malaysia became the first country in the world to use an identification card that incorporates both photo identification and fingerprint biometric data on an in-built computer chip embedded in a piece of plastic.

Other cards which are currently in use or soon to be introduced in the GMPC initiative and share similar features are: The term MyKad is a compound of two words with ambiguous meanings; namely My and Kad.

My can be: Kad can be: The initial MyKad was a contact card solution developed and manufactured by IRIS Corporation.

Made of PC with the dimensions in the ISO/IEC 7816 ID-1 format (standard credit card format), the initial card had a 32kb EEPROM (Electronically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) embedded chip running on M-COS (MyKad Chip Operating System).

The upgraded and current version of the MyKad is a hybrid card containing two chips for both contact and contactless interfaces.

From 2001, it gradually replaced an older Malaysian Identity Card system, that had been in use since 1949 under British colonial rule, with the intention of becoming ubiquitous by 2007.

###, the ninth through eleventh digit is the generic special number generated by the National Registration Department of Malaysia's computer system.

It also affected any person (including citizen or non-citizen) who was born abroad regardless of their year of birth; who applying MyKad without holding High Quality Identity Card after 2001.

American Samoa / Australia / Christmas Island / Cocos (Keeling) Islands / Cook Islands / Fiji / French Polynesia / Guam / Heard Island and McDonald Islands / Marshall Islands / Micronesia / New Caledonia / New Zealand / Niue / Norfolk Island / Papua New Guinea / Timor Leste / Tokelau / United States Minor Outlying Islands / Wallis and Futuna Islands Anguilla / Argentina / Aruba / Bolivia / Brazil / Chile / Colombia / Ecuador / French Guinea / Guadeloupe / Guyana / Paraguay / Peru / South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands / Suriname / Uruguay / Venezuela Algeria / Angola / Botswana / Burundi / Cameroon / Central African Republic / Chad / Congo-Brazzaville / Congo-Kinshasa / Djibouti / Egypt / Eritrea / Ethiopia / Gabon / Gambia / Ghana / Guinea / Kenya / Liberia / Malawi / Mali / Mauritania / Mayotte / Morocco / Mozambique / Namibia / Niger / Nigeria / Rwanda / Réunion / Senegal / Sierra Leone / Somalia / South Africa / Sudan / Swaziland / Tanzania / Togo / Tonga / Tunisia / Uganda / Western Sahara / Zaire / Zambia / Zimbabwe Armenia / Austria / Belgium / Cyprus / Denmark / Faroe Islands / France / Finland / Finland, Metropolitan / Germany / Germany, Democratic Republic / Germany, Federal Republic / Greece / Holy See (Vatican City) / Italy / Luxembourg / Malta / Mediterranean / Monaco / Netherlands / North Macedonia / Norway / Portugal / Republic of Moldova / Slovakia / Slovenia / Spain / Sweden / Switzerland / United Kingdom-Dependent Territories / United Kingdom-National Overseas / United Kingdom-Overseas Citizen / United Kingdom-Protected Person / United Kingdom-Subject Bahrain / Iran / Iraq / Palestine / Jordan / Kuwait / Lebanon / Oman / Qatar / Republic of Yemen / Syria / Turkey / United Arab Emirates / Yemen Arab Republic / Yemen People's Democratic Republic / Israel Japan / North Korea / South Korea / Taiwan Bahamas / Barbados / Belize / Costa Rica / Cuba / Dominica / Dominican Republic / El Salvador / Grenada / Guatemala / Haiti / Honduras / Jamaica / Martinique / Mexico / Nicaragua / Panama / Puerto Rico / Saint Kitts and Nevis / Saint Lucia / Saint Vincent and the Grenadines / Trinidad and Tobago / Turks and Caicos Islands / Virgin Islands (USA) Canada / Greenland / Netherlands Antilles / Saint Pierre and Miquelon / United States of America Albania / Belarus / Bosnia and Herzegovina / Bulgaria / Byelorussia / Croatia / Czech Republic / Czechoslovakia / Estonia / Georgia / Hungary / Latvia / Lithuania / Montenegro / Poland / Republic of Kosovo / Romania / Russian Federation / Serbia / Ukraine

Bhd.. PKI allows for easy securing of private data over public telecommunications networks, thus allowing, secure electronic transactions over the Internet which include: Citizens from Peninsular Malaysia travelling to Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan can produce a MyKad on arrival to obtain a Document in Lieu of Internal Travel Document (IMM.114) for social and business visits not more than three months.

However, Singapore rejected the use of MyKad by frequent Malaysian travellers to enter the country, citing security concerns.

Introduced on 1 January 2003, MyKid contains features similar to MyKad except that it does not include a photograph and thumbprint biometric data.

The MyTentera will replace the current BAT C 10 document (Malay: Borang Angkatan Tentera C 10) (Armed Forces Form C 10).

The MyTentera will be silver and feature the Malaysian Armed Forces logo at the back top-right corner.