I am extremely perturbed by the home minster's statement that the old identity card will cease to be of legal use from Dec 31 onwards.

I am not sure if the minister has worked the maths out yet but with three million Malaysians yet to apply for the MyKad, the National Registration Department (NRD) would have process 11, 406 MyKad applications daily from now till end of that year.

And that includes all Sundays and public holidays, mind you.

But the media reports that: 'More than 12 million Malaysians have obtained their MyKad and the figure is expected to rise to over 14 million by the end of the year.' Which means that by the end 2005, one million Malaysians will still be using the old IC, including yours truly who thinks that watching paint dry or train spotting is better use of time then standing in line for half-a-day to apply for the superfluous MyKad.

I and many others have on many occasions gone to the NRD office only to return after being told that queue 'numbers have finished". Why should I wake up at unearthly hours to get a queue number when NRD itself does not open that early? Why can't they schedule appointments via the Internet? Or surely the NRD can find a reputable vendor to install a fast and reliable queue and delivery system.

And why should I be penalised by a government that is trying to rush through a system that is superfluous? What is wrong with the old identity card? Why spend millions for the new one and then force us to line up for hours to get it changed? Absolutely diabolical.

We have so much more better things to do with our time then to waste it at government offices lining up and watching others make their lunch plans.

Dear honourable minister, kindly get the procedures and system to issue the MyKad in order first before deciding arbitrarily on a deadline.

Kindly don't mess it all up as the Immigration Department has done with its almost daily policy change with respect to immigrant labour.