eID in South East Asia

On a global path to better administration, eGovernment includes all the procedures and means to use IT for government services. Delivering services to citizens require a strong and reliable identity system. Most of the governments in South East Asia, in a move to modernize their administration and bring better services to citizens, are building identity systems that guarantee a strong identification of each person.

In addition to domestic objectives for eGovernment, governments are also delivering international passports, and in the wake of 9/11 events, international standards require chips to be integrated in passports making them electronic passports (or ePassports), and then biometric passports, when they include biometric data.

Driven by both of these objectives, leading to standardized international documents and demand for a better administration, most governments from South East Asia have started eID projects.

ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) requires that travelers are equipped with, at least, machine-readable passports by 2015, triggering a rush towards the technology from all governments. Countries in the region show a wide spectrum of readiness for these projects. In 1998, Malaysia was the first issuer of passports embedding a microchip. Singapore is considered as the regional hub of the smart card industry, thus is ready to issue biometric passports, and participates in the international agreement to exchange data for passport verification. At the same times, countries like Cambodia, East Timor or Vietnam, are lagging behind, and will have technology in place in time to comply with the ICAO deadline.

South East Asia being home for highly populated countries will represent huge volumes of ePassports. The Philippines, with their population over 100 million people, and high level of international travels, for tourism and emigration, are to become the largest ePassport issuer in the region, and one the world largest issuers. Smart Insights anticipates the total volume of ePassports in the region will reach 71 million units by 2017.

At the same time, for domestic administration purposes, governments have started issuing electronic ID cards (eID). These documents take advantage of the chip cryptographic functions and of physical anti counterfeiting features to build a secure infrastructure protecting individual identity. The issuance of eIDs is often associated with the updating of a National Population Register, and the addition of biometrics, allowing the government to propose certification services for all entities in need of verifying citizens’ identity. Having a reliable population register, and citizens owning national ID documents is a prerequisite for an efficient launch of eGovernment programs.

Countries in South East Asia have reached various maturity levels. Malaysia has been issuing electronic ID cards since 2001, whereas less advanced economies such as the Philippines or Vietnam are just planning to start issuing electronic identification documents. Some countries are actually going further in technology adoption, by integrating a wide set of applications, such as driving license, health insurance, protection of minors, and even payment.

Given various stages of development, and some aggressive programs aiming at equipping the whole population of the country within 18 months, Smart Insights anticipates there will be over 350 million eID cards installed in 2017.

Finally, some governments are also taking advantage of the smart card technology to propose other ID documents. Driving licenses and healthcare card projects can be found in the Region.

With eID projects, South East Asia governments demonstrate their will to bring better services to citizens, and their readiness to adopt the most up to date technologies. 

Table of Contents         8

Table of Illustrations         12

1         Overview         15

1.1      eGovernment      17

1.2      Global eID market      18

1.3      Southeast Asian eID market      21

2         Related issues         23

2.1      Identity threat      25

2.1.1 Counterfeit.. 25

2.1.2 Forgery.. 25

2.1.3 Impostor.. 25

2.1.4 Enrollment holes.. 25

2.2      Double identity      25

2.3      Traceability      26

2.3.1 EU regulations.. 26

2.4      Interoperability      27

2.5      Secure ID project phases      28

3         ePassports         29

3.1      Overview      31

3.2      The ePassport generations      32

3.2.1 Handwritten passports.. 32

3.2.2 Machine-readable passports.. 32

3.2.3 ePassports.. 32

3.2.4 Biometric passports.. 33

3.3      Verification methods      33

3.4      Philippines      35

4         Other ePassport projects         37

4.1      Brunei      39

4.2      Cambodia      41

4.3      East Timor      43

4.4      Indonesia      43

4.4.1 MRPs.. 44

4.4.2 ePassports.. 44

4.4.3 Technical aspects.. 44

4.5      Laos      46

4.6      Malaysia      46

4.6.1 Non ICAO-compliant.. 47

4.6.2 ICAO-compliant.. 47

4.7      Myanmar      49

4.8      Singapore      50

4.9      Thailand      52

4.10      Vietnam      54

4.10.1 MRPs.. 54

4.10.2 ePassports.. 54

5         Forecasts for ePassports         57

6         National eID  & foreign resident cards         63

6.1      Overview      65

6.2      Smart card types      66

6.2.1 Contact.. 66

6.2.2 Contactless.. 66

6.2.3 Hybrid.. 66

6.2.4 Dual interface.. 67

6.3      Indonesia      68

7         Other eID card projects         71

7.1      Brunei      73

7.1.1 Smart ID card (Yellow).. 73

7.1.2 Smart ID card (Purple).. 74

7.1.3 Smart ID card (Green).. 74

7.2      Malaysia      75

7.2.1 MyKad.. 76

7.2.2 Driver’s license application.. 77

7.2.3 Technical aspects.. 77

7.2.4 Faulty cards.. 78

7.2.5 iKad.. 79

7.2.6 MyKid.. 79

7.2.7 MyPR.. 79

7.2.8 MyTentera.. 80

7.3      Philippines      81

7.4      Singapore      84

7.5      Thailand      84

7.6      Vietnam      87

8         Forecasts for eID cards         89

9         Other government ID applications         93

9.1      Overview      95

9.2      Driver’s licenses in Brunei      95

9.3      Driver’s licenses in Indonesia      95

9.4      eVote in Philippines      95

9.5      Fuel cards in Philippines      96

9.6      Healthcare cards in Thailand      96

9.7      Overseas worker’s ID card in Indonesia      97

10         Forecasts for other government eID cards         99

11         Standardization         103

11.1      Background      105

11.2      ICAO Document 9303      105

11.2.1 MRTDs.. 106

11.3      Cryptographic mechanisms      108

11.3.1 Passive Authentication (PA).. 108

11.3.2 Basic Access Control (BAC).. 110

11.3.3 Active Authentication (AA).. 110

11.3.4 Extended Access Control (EAC).. 111

11.3.5 Supplemental Access Control (SAC).. 112

11.4      Public Key Directory      113

12         Company profiles         115

13         Table of acronyms         125

Table of Illustrations

Illustration 1 Annual Biometric Industry Revenues, 2009-2014........ 19

Illustration 2 Government & Healthcare eID Card Country  ‘Opportunity Matrix’ 2016........ 20

Illustration 3 Map of Southeast Asia........ 21

Illustration 4 eID schemes in Southeast Asia (current or projected)........ 22

Illustration 5 National IDs in Southeast Asia........ 22

Illustration 6 eID project phases........ 28

Illustration 7 Philippine ePassport........ 35

Illustration 8 Philippine ePassport value chain........ 35

Illustration 9 Bruneian ePassport........ 39

Illustration 10 Bruneian ePassport value chain........ 39

Illustration 11 Cambodian ePassport........ 41

Illustration 12 Cambodian ePassport value chain........ 41

Illustration 13 East Timorese MRPs........ 43

Illustration 14 Indonesian ePassport........ 43

Illustration 15 Indonesian ePassport value chain........ 44

Illustration 16 ePassport enrollment........ 45

Illustration 17 Lao MRP........ 46

Illustration 18 Malaysian ePassport........ 46

Illustration 19 Malaysian ePassport value chain........ 47

Illustration 20 Myanma MRPs........ 49

Illustration 21 Myanma ePassport value chain........ 49

Illustration 22 Singaporean ePassport........ 50

Illustration 23 Singaporean ePassport value chain........ 50

Illustration 24 Thai ePassport........ 52

Illustration 25 Thai ePassport value chain........ 52

Illustration 26 Vietnamese ePassport........ 54

Illustration 27 ePassports market growth (installed base), 2013 – 2017........ 59

Illustration 28 Total number of passports (installed base), 2012 - 2017........ 60

Illustration 29 Annual ePassport issuance evolution, 2012 – 2017........ 61

Illustration 30 Annual ePassport issuance, 2012 - 2017........ 61

Illustration 31 ePassport volumes evolution (installed base), 2012 – 2017........ 62

Illustration 32 Number of ePassports (installed base), 2012 - 2017........ 62

Illustration 33 eID project’s advantages........ 65

Illustration 34 Indonesian eID cards........ 68

Illustration 35 Indonesian eID cards value chain........ 68

Illustration 36 Malaysian eID cards........ 75

Illustration 37 Malaysian eID cards value chain........ 75

Illustration 38 Malaysian MyKad........ 78

Illustration 39 Philippine eID cards........ 81

Illustration 40 Philippine eID cards value chain........ 81

Illustration 41 Proposed UMID architecture........ 83

Illustration 42 Singaporean eID cards value chain........ 84

Illustration 43 Thai eID cards........ 84

Illustration 44 Thai eID cards value chain........ 85

Illustration 45 eID cards market growth (installed base), 2013 - 2017........ 91

Illustration 46 eID annual issuance, 2012 - 2017........ 92

Illustration 47 Number of eIDs (installed base), 2012 - 2017........ 92

Illustration 48 eDriver’s license issuance, 2012 - 2017........ 101

Illustration 49 Number of eDriver’s licenses (installed base),  2012 - 2017........ 101

Illustration 50 Standardization of eVisa and ePassport by ICAO........ 107

Illustration 51 Logical Data Structure of ePassport........ 109

Illustration 52 Public Key Directory........ 113

Illustration 53 Public Key Directory participants........ 114