Posts falsely claim handwritten birth certificates in Malaysia are invalid

Published on May 18, 2026 at 07:08
2 min read
By Raevathi SUPRAMANIAM, AFP Malaysia

Malaysia issued handwritten birth certificates until 1994, but social media posts claiming those documents are no longer valid are false. The National Registration Department (NRD) refuted the claim, saying it has never asked the public to replace their certificates unless they have been damaged -- a process citizens have described online as straightforward.

An explanatory video shared May 6, 2026 on TikTok claims in Malay that handwritten birth certificates are no longer valid and urges the public to update them.

It adds that many people only realised they had to replace the document when it was needed for official government matters.

Screenshot of the false post taken on May 13, 2026, with a red X added by AFP

Every child born in Malaysia to at least one Malaysian parent must be registered to ensure their identity and citizenship status are recognised (archived link).

The Southeast Asian country issued handwritten birth certificates from 1955, when Malaysia was still under British rule, before switching to a computerised system in 1994 (archived link).

Similar posts spread elsewhere on Facebook, Threads and X. Comments suggest some users believed the claim.

"If you don't replace it, they might void your identity card", one user wrote.

Another said: "It needs to be changed because the government wants to enter the data into the system according to the state of birth to make government-related searches easier".

However, the government has issued no such instruction.

A Google keyword search found the NRD dismissed the claim on its official Threads account on April 20 (archived link).

"The NRD has never canceled the use of old birth certificates, they are still valid for use," it said.

"However, in certain situations, all concerned are encouraged to obtain a copy of the latest birth certificate, especially if the original document is damaged, faded or difficult to read".

The department also posted a video on its official TikTok account addressing the circulating claim, with an NRD spokesperson reiterating the statement made in the Threads post (archived link).

"Some agencies might ask for a new birth certificate because the handwritten text has faded, or the document is torn or damaged. In those cases, they need to make a new birth certificate", they said.

AFP reporters in Kuala Lumpur have not received any such requests when dealing with official government matters.

However, social media users have shared experiences of being asked to replace their old birth certificates, describing the process as straightforward and saying they were allowed to keep their original documents as mementoes (archived links here and here).

AFP has previously debunked other false claims about Malaysia's identity documents.

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