Mandalay/Yangon — Many Muslims across Myanmar are facing significant difficulties and expenses while trying to correct errors in their national registration records, where their religion—originally recorded as Islam—has been wrongly changed to “Buddhist” in the digital system during the process of converting to the new Smart Card.
A Muslim resident who recently visited the Department of Immigration and Population (DIP) office in Mandalay to apply for a Smart Card said that although his original NRC clearly stated his religion as Islam, the computer system showed “Buddhist.”
“When they searched for my NRC number in the computer, the staff said my religion was listed as Buddhist. They told me it needed correction. I insisted that my NRC card stated Islam, but they said the computer showed Buddhist and asked me to fix it. Then they sent me back,” he explained.
This issue is reportedly not isolated to a single individual. Many Muslims applying for Smart Cards have discovered the same problem and have been instructed by DIP offices to get the information corrected.
To rectify the incorrect religious listing, applicants have been required to collect their household lists and other supporting documents and visit multiple township offices, causing long delays, one Muslim resident said. Some cases have remained unresolved for up to six months.
Those who seek quicker processing must go through brokers, and the combined cost of “express fees” and service charges can exceed 700,000 kyats.
“An elderly woman I know has been going around to several township offices for six months to get her records corrected. Brokers ask for 500,000 kyats for express service, and with the additional service fee, it comes to over 700,000 kyats,” the resident added.
Observers believe the issue may have originated not from recently issued small cards (e.g., 9/KMaSa(N)), but from errors that occurred when data from earlier large-format cards (MaRaMa, MaRaTa, MaNaMa) were transferred into the digital software system.
Muslim communities say that in the current period of economic hardship, being forced to spend time and money to fix such administrative errors has become an additional burden.
