Since President U Thein Sein took office in 2011, nearly 250,000 Mon State citizens, across ten townships in Mon State, have been issued national ID cards under the Moe Pwint Project, according to U Than Win, Vice-Director of Mon State’s Immigration and National Registration Department.
He said: “We go to quarters and villages, even in very remote areas, to issue national ID cards. If one were to look at it in a simple way, one may not see many benefits, but for them if they have ID cards, they have all the rights of a citizen."
In just four years, the Moe Pwint Project has provided nearly 5 million people nationwide with national ID cards.
“Not only do we issue ID cards [from our] offices, but we also go meet the locals and issue locally for them. In the past, we only went to two villages in a month to issue ID cards, only when we were invited to do so. But now, although not invited, we just go and issue ID cards for the locals,” said U Than Win.
According to a local school teacher from Mudon Town’s Sub-Town (1) quarter, although the Immigration and National Registration Department (INRD) provides a registration service in Mudon Town for those applying for new ID cards and copies of previous ID cards, such a service has yet to be initiated in the Sub-Town (1) quarter.
The INRD has announced that within a period of six months, from January 1st to June 30th, the Moe Pwint Project is slated to provide national ID cards and household membership reports to those in need across the country.
According to the Ministry of Immigration and Population, Mon State has a population of nearly 2 million residents, while the INRD has a staff of 200.
