Official Business - MyKid registration and name alteration

I delivered Alyssa in SDMC and as with all private hospitals, the hospital tries their best to make application for your baby's birth certificate and IC (MyKid) a more pleasant and easy task. As such, they provide the new mom with a letter from your OB, duly completed forms (except the name of the baby, obviously!), as well as a congratulatory letter with instructions on how to get through the application process.

Here's what this process entails:
1. Fill up application form (usually issued by the hospital as there is a column for doctor's signature).
2. Bring the following to your nearest JPN:
(a) duly completed application form
(b) parents' ICs (original and 1 photocopy - front and back on same sheet)
(c) hospital appointment card (original and 1 photocopy)
(d) letter from hospital (original and 1 photocopy)
Note: baby and mother are not required to be present. Parents can even nominate a relative to submit the application, but you'll need an extra form stating authorization from the parents.

And application is free.

You'll then receive the birth cert on the day itself. We made ours in the SEPUTEH branch in Endah Parade Sri Petaling, which was really empty so Justin managed to get her birth cert in 5 mins. Whereas if the registration was done in more busy branches (e.g. putrajaya), it'll take 30 mins - 1 hour.

But here's the issue I had with JPN seputeh - the lady that Justin dealt with was either lazy, or not fully trained.

On the form we printed very clearly our daughter's name. Her chinese name was to be hyphenated: Kye-li. Justin was told that a hyphen (-) could not be used in the child's name. So boggled and tired, Justin said ok and left it as it.

When we discussed about it after the fact, it was clear that it may not be such as my name had a hyphen in it!! So either policies were changed from when I was born, or this lady had no idea what she was talking about, or she couldn't find the (-) key on her keyboard to key the hyphen in. So this furious mommy did some research and it turns out, the JPN's official policy states that hyphens, commas, and aliases are permitted symbols!


With that, we went back to Seputeh to make the amendment, only to be told amendments can only be made in their head quarters - JPN Putrajaya. Sigh. So we put it off till December this year. Note: any alteration to a child's name can only be done within TWO windows: (1) from birth to the child's first birthday; (2) When the child reaches 12 years old.

Researched the whole process again and here's the how-to should you want to alter your child's name.

(1) obtain forms from JPN office (we got ours from Putrajaya)
(2) complete all sections
(3) you are required to have these following documents:
(a) completed forms + stamp and signature of a commissioner for oaths for one of the sections
(b) parents' ICs (both mom and dad's original and 1 photocopy)
(c) child's birth cert (original and 1 photocopy)
(d) any other official documents with name of the child (e.g. insurance policy, bank account etc)
(e) MyKid card (original)
(4) Go to the ticketing counter, show them your completed forms, take number
(5) submit forms, pay RM2 for processing fee. Submit MyKid card.
(6) wait for a new birth cert, pay RM5 for new birth cert.
(7) Collect and keep slip to pick up new MyKid card 1 month later. Note: you can request for the MyKid to be sent to a JPN branch closest to you.

So all in all, it was a tedious process, especially queuing up for the commissioner for oaths' signature. Sigh. But at the end of the day, what made it all worth while was that the JPN officer at Putrajaya who served us was a wonderful wonderful man! He was not only polite, kind, and efficient, he also had a sense of humor! =)) So maybe there is hope for JPN afterall!