KLUANG: The penalty for late registration of newborns (after 60 days) has been increased from the existing RM50 to RM1,000 with immediate effect.
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said the reasoning behind the increased penalty was following the many cases of parents who took too long to register the birth of their newborn babies with the National Registration Department (NRD).
"Parents should not take their own sweet time to have their newborn babies registered.
"Under the Birth, Death and Adopted Child Act or Act 299, it is stated that period of 60 days is given for a parent to register the birth of their newborn," said Nur Jazlan said at the launch of the Simpang Renggam NRD branch near here.
He said the government has been lenient about the matter in the past when it received feedback from parents who wanted a longer grace period for them to complete their children's birth registration.
He said the government listened to the people's views and the NRD increased the grace period from 42 days previously to 60 days in August.
"This regulation applies to all newborns, irregardless of whether the child is from an out of wedlock relationship," he said.