> Quick view: MyKad printing nationwide is disrupted from 26 to 31 August 2026 while JPN changes over to the MyKad Generasi Baharu, and the department is asking anyone without an urgent need to postpone. The bigger correction: nobody has been issued the new card yet. What began on 1 June 2026 was a six-year supply contract with NexG Bhd — RM732.72 million, RM40 per card actually issued — while JPN kept printing from existing stock that the Home Minister said would last "another two to three months". Those months are now up. The new card will not work as a Touch 'n Go card. Existing cards stay valid, including for subsidies; only KPP, KPT and Version 1 MyKad holders must change over, within three years. The fee is still RM10. Losing your IC costs RM110, then RM310, then RM1,010.

The thing happening right now: printing is paused until 31 August

If you are reading this in the last week of August 2026, this is the part that affects you.

JPN has published a notice on its own portal — Pemakluman Peralihan MyKad Generasi Baharu — stating that the department is going through the transition from the existing MyKad structure to the New Generation MyKad, and that MyKad printing nationwide is expected to face temporary disruption from 26 August 2026 to 31 August 2026.

The department's guidance is unusually direct. Members of the public who do not have an urgent need to make a MyKad exchange or replacement are advised to postpone those transactions for the period. And for a first-time MyKad application for a child aged 12, parents or guardians are encouraged to wait a while, so that the child receives the MyKad Generasi Baharu when its issuance begins in the near future. JPN closes by thanking the public for its patience and apologising for any inconvenience.

Read that second instruction carefully, because it gives away more than it looks. JPN is telling parents that a child who applies now would get the old card, and that waiting a little gets them the new one. That only makes sense if the new card is not being issued yet — which brings us to the thing almost every write-up of this story has got wrong.

What actually launched on 1 June — and what did not

The headlines on 1 June 2026 said the new MyKad was rolling out. The card itself was not.

What began on that date was the supply contract. NexG Bhd holds a six-year contract worth RM732.72 million, running 1 June 2026 to 31 May 2032, on a pay-per-issue basis: the government pays RM40 for each card actually issued to an applicant, rather than for a print run. JPN also set out the shape of the roll-out — first at JPN headquarters in Putrajaya plus 18 selected offices, 19 locations in total, through the JPN appointment system, before expanding nationwide in stages.

But a plan is not a card. In a statement on 29 May 2026, JPN said the roll-out of the new-generation MyKad would only begin after its official launch by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, on a date yet to be announced. As of this week, that launch has still not been announced.

And on 8 June 2026, in Putrajaya, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail put it beyond doubt:

> "We will continue issuing passports and identity cards using the existing stock until it is exhausted."

He added that the start of a new contract "does not mean we should destroy stock that is still available", and said the changeover would be managed practically to avoid wasting government resources. The existing stock, he said, was enough for another two to three months, against roughly 35,000 MyKad applications a month — most of them children turning 12.

Now do the arithmetic. Two to three months from 8 June lands in August or September 2026. That is exactly when JPN has scheduled a nationwide printing changeover. The 26–31 August disruption is not a fault or an outage; it is the existing stock running out, on the schedule the minister described in June.

What this means for you in one line: if you applied for, replaced or renewed a MyKad at any point since 1 June 2026, the card you were handed is the existing-structure card. That is not an error and it is completely valid — including, as JPN has repeatedly stressed, for subsidies and government aid.

The feature the new card quietly drops: Touch 'n Go

This is the change with the most day-to-day consequence, and it has been badly under-reported next to the security-feature count.

The new MyKad will not function as a Touch 'n Go card. JPN director-general Datuk Badrul Hisham Alias confirmed this in May 2026 in remarks carried by Bernama. No reason was given at the time. JPN's explanation since is that the built-in TnG function is no longer widely used and has become less relevant now that dedicated payment cards, e-wallets and mobile payment platforms are commonplace.

For anyone who has spent twenty years tapping their IC at a toll plaza, a parking gate or a train barrier, two practical points follow:

  • Your current card is unaffected. The TnG function on the MyKad in your wallet keeps working, and nothing in law requires you to give that card up. For most people, that means no change for years.
  • When you do change over, budget for a separate card. Once you hold the new-generation MyKad, tolls, parking and transit need a standalone Touch 'n Go card or another payment method.

The part that got lost in the noise

Within days, three claims were circulating widely: that everybody must replace their card, that the new card costs more, and that JPN was about to start fining people over their addresses. Taken against the official record, none of them holds.

Existing cards remain valid. The government has said it does not intend a full or rushed replacement of cards already in circulation. Cards currently in use stay valid for all official transactions including subsidy redemption and government assistance — which is the line that matters most, because that is where people were worried about being cut off.

But three groups do have to change. Holders of the old plastic identity card (KPP), holders of the high-quality identity card (KPT) and holders of Version 1 MyKad are required to replace their cards with the New Structure MyKad in stages within three years. These are the oldest documents still in circulation. If you are carrying one, this is your notice; if you are not, nothing is being asked of you yet.

And the new card goes first to people who were getting one anyway — first-time applicants aged 12 and above, and anyone already applying for a replacement.

Your aid is not at risk. This was the fear that drove most of the panic, and JPN addressed it directly in a statement in May 2026: the list of aid recipients in the system remains intact, and the migration of information happens automatically within the department's central database, so assistance continues to reach eligible recipients. JPN named the programmes people were worried about — SARA and BUDI95 — and asked the public not to be misled by claims that aid stops if a card is not replaced immediately. If you are on the RON95 subsidy quota, your MyKad is the credential the whole thing runs on, and nothing about this changeover interrupts it.

How long the whole thing takes. The Home Minister has described the change-over as running in four phases, with all citizens required to switch only after the last of them. The first phase covers production and supply; the second covers issuing the new card for applications and replacements. JPN has not published dated milestones for the later phases, so treat any specific end-date you see quoted online as unsourced.

What it costs, in both directions

The fee to you has not moved. In a written parliamentary reply on 23 June 2026, the Home Minister stated that the fee charged to applicants remains at RM10 for processing, with no increase arising from the new card.

The cost to the government has. The payment rate is fixed at RM40 per card, and on an estimated issuance of three million cards a year, the implementation cost is put at roughly RM120 million a year. The structure matters: this is a pay-per-issue arrangement under the NexG Bhd contract, so the government pays for cards successfully issued to applicants, not for cards printed and stockpiled — which is also why using up the old stock first was the cheap option rather than an embarrassment.

Set those two numbers side by side and the "revenue exercise" theory does not survive: the public pays RM10 for something the state pays RM40 to produce.

The fees that actually catch people

The RM10 is the least interesting number in this article. JPN's published schedules for replacement are where the real money sits, and they escalate sharply.

Lost identity card, citizens:

  • First loss — RM10 application fee plus RM100 processing = RM110
  • Second loss — RM10 plus RM300 = RM310
  • Third or subsequent loss — RM10 plus RM1,000 = RM1,010

Lost identity card, non-citizens (MyPR and MyKAS): the same processing ladder of RM100, RM300 and RM1,000, on a RM40 application fee — so RM140, RM340 and RM1,040.

These are JPN's Payment Schedule 4A (citizens, MyKad and MyTentera) and Payment Schedule 4B (non-citizens, MyPR and MyKAS). Both were re-read from jpn.gov.my on 26 August 2026 and are unchanged — the new card has not moved any of them.

A police report is required for a lost card, and JPN specifies that it must clearly state the details of the incident and of the card that was lost.

Damaged identity card: RM10 for citizens and RM40 for non-citizens — and a card damaged within 12 months of the date of issue is replaced without charge.

Change of address: RM10 for citizens, RM40 for non-citizens, because a new card has to be issued.

One rule applies across all of these: refunds are not considered once an application has been processed, including when the lost card is later recovered.

Regulation 15, and the RM20,000 that was never a campaign

The address rule is old and it is real. Regulation 15 of the National Registration Regulations 1990 provides that a holder of an identity card who changes their current place of residence to another place of residence for a period of 90 days or more shall change the address on the identity card. JPN also specifies what will not be accepted: the address must be a permanent residential address in Malaysia, and a workplace, office, organisation address or PO box is not allowed.

What went viral in mid-2026 was something else — a claim that the government had launched an enforcement drive against people who had not updated their addresses, with penalties of up to RM20,000, three years' imprisonment, or both.

On 23 July 2026 JPN put out a statement saying plainly that no special campaign is being conducted to force citizens to update their MyKad addresses, that no special operation is under way to take action against those who have not, and that the government is not profiting through the enforcement of Regulation 15, a rule that has been in force for a long time. The department's position is that citizens are encouraged to keep the address current, not that a dragnet is coming. It also confirmed the RM10 replacement fee in the same breath.

How to actually do it — and what this week changes

First, decide whether this is the week. Between 26 and 31 August 2026, JPN is asking people without an urgent need to hold off. What is disrupted is the printing of the card, not the department: counters open as usual, and JPN's other business is not part of this notice. So —

  • Genuinely urgent (card lost, badly damaged, or you need it for a transaction you cannot postpone): go anyway and explain the urgency.
  • Not urgent (a tidy-up address change, a replacement you have been meaning to do): wait until 1 September. You avoid the queue, and you may well get the newer card.
  • A child turning 12: JPN is explicitly asking you to wait, so the child gets the new-generation card rather than the outgoing one.

For a lost or damaged card, you can attend any JPN counter, or use the MyKad Replacement System on www.jpn.gov.my if you are a Malaysian citizen and need no change to your photograph or particulars. Online applications accept credit card payment only. JPN also lists a phone service on 03-8880 8066 for the same limited category. A police report is required for a lost card, stating the incident and the details of the card.

For an address change, JPN's own guidance is a counter visit with the original identity card and proof of address — an electricity, water, sewerage or other utility bill, a property tax assessment, an income tax form, a sale or tenancy agreement, or an official letter from a local authority or employer, in original or certified copy.

For the new-structure card specifically, there is currently nothing to do. Applications go through the JPN appointment system at www.jpn.gov.my, but general issuance has not started; watch for the Prime Minister's official launch, which JPN has said is the trigger.

How to think about the whole thing

Strip out the noise and the position is simple. You are not being asked to replace anything unless you hold a KPP, a KPT or a Version 1 MyKad — and if you do, you have three years and it costs RM10. Your card still works for everything, subsidies included. The new card is not available yet, so anyone telling you they have one, or that you must rush to get one, is mistaken. The only live change this week is that printing pauses until 31 August. And the one real trade-off in the new card, when it does arrive, is that it stops being a Touch 'n Go card — worth a moment's planning, and nothing more.

Where the information came from

The 26–31 August 2026 printing disruption, the advice to postpone non-urgent replacements and the guidance to parents of 12-year-olds were read from JPN's own notice, Pemakluman Peralihan MyKad Generasi Baharu, published at jpn.gov.my and dated 26 August 2026, and were also reported by The Star, Free Malaysia Today and Kosmo on 25 August 2026. Fee schedules for lost, damaged and address-change applications — Payment Schedules 4A and 4B — the required documents and the online and phone channels were re-read from JPN's service pages at jpn.gov.my on 26 August 2026. JPN's 29 May 2026 statement that the roll-out begins only after the Prime Minister's official launch was reported by Lowyat.NET. The Home Minister's 8 June 2026 remarks in Putrajaya on using up existing stock, the two-to-three-month estimate and the 35,000 monthly applications were reported by The Star and Malay Mail. The NexG Bhd contract terms — RM732.72 million, 1 June 2026 to 31 May 2032, RM40 per card on a pay-per-issue basis — and the RM10 fee and RM120 million annual figure come from the Home Minister's written parliamentary reply of 23 June 2026, reported by The Edge Malaysia and Free Malaysia Today. The removal of Touch 'n Go functionality was confirmed by JPN director-general Datuk Badrul Hisham Alias in May 2026 via Bernama, reported by paultan.org; JPN's reason was reported by Lowyat.NET. The 1 June 2026 launch details, the 53-versus-23 security element count, the three-year requirement and the 19 launch locations were reported by The Star and Malay Mail on 1 June 2026. JPN's rebuttal of the address-enforcement claim was carried by Bernama on 23 July 2026. Fees and procedures are set by JPN and can change; confirm at a counter or on jpn.gov.my before you act on anything here.

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*Cover image: Farishhamka, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — the JPN headquarters in Putrajaya*