NOUVELLES CARTES D’IDENTITE NATIONALE- GUANTANA MAURITIUS

Regrupma Travayer Sosyal

 5 SSR St, ARC Bldg, 2^nd Floor , Port Louis 213 5555

Press Release

We at Regrupma Travayer Sosyal strongly believe that the new Identity Card that this government is about to implement is sincerely not required because of its secrecy between Mauritius and Singapore faces a lot of unanswered issues:-

Our set of questions!

What is wrong with our existing National Identity Card?

Is our current Identity Card not acceptable in our Institutions?

If our ID Card is acceptable, which we believe to be so, then why do we need to waste so much of our national funds in this world of financial crisis and poverty?

What is it that the new Card going to achieve that this current I.D card is failing to do so?

How safe is the new NIC ?

Only one issue that we can observe requiring changes in our existing NIC is its time frame validity. E.g 10 years as a portrait/ face may require updating.

This should have been thought through well in advance but give it the benefit of doubts and allow remedial for this. Other than that, we do not believe a change is required.

We herewith put forward further and better reasons that our Prime Minister Hon Navin Chandra Ramgoolam should put a stop to the production of this new digital NIC.

1)     It is a waste of 1.1 Billion rupees for this implementation, without taking into consideration the after sales services and maintenance charges.

2)     We are not equipped enough in all spheres of our Institutions and its technology to accommodate this change.

Many of our Government institutions do not even have a computer or an email address; hence we are very far from the so called modernization as stated by the Ministry of Technology Hon T.C.Pillay. It appears that this population has been kept in the dark about the new card.

3)     We are only an Island and our National Intelligence Unit has a good understanding of all the grooves of the hoof to require a need for a biometric Digital ID. It is not a card that may prevent crimes by any means.

4)     We believe that a Digital ID card is an invasion of Data Protection Act and invasion of our Civil liberties and Human Rights.

5)     We also raise awareness to our patriots that the United Kingdom has abolished National Identity card and equally destroyed NIC registers in (2011) that did contain such personal Data. Hence it was called “wasteful, Intrusive, and bureaucratic” quoted from Hon Nick Clegg Deputy Prime Minister of UK statement. He is the Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party; and we understand him being the chair person of Privy Council.

The Only electronic ID implemented in the UK was to have a control over students, a way to clamp down over terrorists” Our Country is only about the size of Surrey i.e one county in the UK with a similar size population.

6)     The reference of India using such ID Card by Hon Tassarajen Pillay Chellumbrum is a poor example.

(1) They are not Chipped cards;

(2) Millions of people in India do not even have a birth certificate, bank account, let alone an electronic Card. Mauritius we believe to be near enough to developed countries

(3) However, they did not part with information of their citizens to people of another country and all costs were borne within India.

It will be advisable to our fellow countrymen, and especially Hon Pillay to make reference and take cognizance of UK, Norway, Australia, Canada and Germany where either an electronic ID card have not been implemented or found to be fraudulently used in General elections. Hence they are not reliable and certainly they are not developing countries. If as the Minister stated that this NIC will initially entail basic information only, then what is the use to create so much pressure on our citizen, let alone such immense costs.

7)     Our National Identity is about to be tampered with, and we should not be proud of it.

Who are those who are going to access our Biometric/ electronic Data ?

What rights have those people to access to our ID.?

If people have been able to create fake ATM Cards, then hacking and interfering with our personal information cannot be ruled out. A person unknown to us may have access to our personal information including our address, single parents and even a person’s religion which can cause prejudice.. It is a damning issue where the Government falls on its face towards gender, equality and equal opportunity.

A hacker can maliciously feed controversial information onto our card without us having access to our own data.

8)     If we are to rely so much on digital Data a technology crash or a Virus attack and hackers intrusions, may cause serious disaster to our institutions and our population.

9)     We believe that this Government needs to inform its Nation of the Pros and cons regarding this new concept of ID and equally wastage of National monies. “Anguilles sous Roches”, gives us goose pimples when we note of the G to G via our PM signing a non disclosure policy.

What about if for one reason or another we fall out with the Singapore government? On the other hand our PM or a future PM will have the powers to part with our information to a third party country.

10) Cards replacements will be very expensive too. Over 200 ID cards are lost in Mauritius daily. A poor person may have to live without a replacement if they cannot afford one, likewise poor people in India who  have neither a  card nor food or a roof.

There are many other things that the Nation can benefit from, instead of wasting so much on new ID Cards. Updating our current NIC would be less expensive and safer.

Don’t forget, Biometric tests, so far in Mauritius have been only used to identify Criminals, and we do not all have to be treated like one.

11) Our Passport has enough details to cover additional proof if and when required. Our utility bills or our driving licence for an address requirement should not be a shame.

12) If it was to regulate theft against pensions etc, then other cheaper means and measures needs to be implemented at administrative levels, and not a requisite of a biometric NIC solely.

13) Your NIC can be made available to other countries, and judge you as terrorists, especially if your name has near enough resemblance. E.g if you are called Jehad, saddam,  Khadafi or Hussain etc.

14) You will not have access to your own details in your card carried by you; on the other hand another intruder may have all details of you including your fingerprints, Gender, ethnicity, political interests, Social interrests.

15) The fact that our new Identity card will be processed by non Mauritian Citizens, we cannot guarantee our national security and privacy. We can neither trust confidentiality nor agreements between two countries as breakdown can happen for a number of reasons.

16) The new NIC is nothing but a slap in the face of our educated population namely those Professional Information Technocrats.

17) Do most of our citizens have confidence in our current Institutions? Your guess is as good as ours.

How can we then have further confidence with another Institution with implementation from foreign citizens.

19  Non disclosure  agreements which have been signed in the past  such as Mangalore, Neo Town, Jin Fei and others have created serious atmosphere of doubts . This is yet another “ A Kot Nu Pe Ale”. “Ladministration dan nu pei Malade”

In a nutshell, various leaders have used such NIC for their personal needs. Fingers have even been  pointed towards  President Obama over his Election win. Our new NIC will be invasive, intrusive, wasting money, and certainly not beneficial to our Citizens. We hope that the Minister and Prime Minister concerned value our citizens and refrain from going ahead with this awful project but concentrate with such projects towards welfare of our Nation.

Dr M Rajah Madhewoo  &     Mr Eddy Sadien,

250 2050                                  793 1730

Posted by Minority Voice on Aug 27 2013. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry