Four cases of “pink card” bribery

January 9, 2013

HURFOM: Numerous reports coming from citizens of Burma, also called Myanmar, highlight definite improvements in many people’s lives, especially relating to freedom of mobility and reduced corruption. However, over the past three weeks, residents of Ye and Mudon Townships in Mon State allege that bribery remains a common feature of the process to obtain national identification (ID) cards, locally known as “pink cards.”

Last month, two young men visited the Ye Township Immigration and National Registration Department to order replacement ID cards. To fill their request, they claim the department chief charged them 16 times the customary price.

“My friend and I went to the department [office] together to report our lost ID cards. When we asked them to make new cards by the following day, they would not make any promises. But when my friend started talking about money, they agreed to prepare the cards in one day for 50,000 kyat [each]. I refused to pay [that amount] because we only have to pay 3,000 kyat in the village if we wait two weeks [for delivery]. I said I could not pay 50,000 kyat but would pay 35,000 kyat. They told me it would take two weeks even though I already agreed to pay 35,000 kyat. My friend paid 50,000 kyat and got his ID card the next day, but I have to wait two weeks.”

Residents from Ye Township described bribing the registration department chief as typical, saying that without payment, he refuses to provide his signature that is needed for ID card applications.

On December 26, a local woman visited the Ye registration department to renew her expiring ID. She said the office staff informed her that she had to pay extra to get the card, so she slid 10,000 kyat between her registration forms.

“The staff took the documents to the registration department chief, who got angry with them, in front of us, and said he would not make ID cards for anyone. But when he saw the money among the papers, he stopped scolding them and signed his name. I was shocked.”

A similar complaint came from Mudon Township, where a 23-year-old woman has waited almost three years for her national ID card to be issued. In 2010, she went to the Mudon registration department to request the mandatory signed permission letter to start her application. She said she brought the necessary documentation, including her student ID card and “Form No. 10” that requires a detailed list of relatives’ names, but was asked by the clerk for 50,000 kyat to begin the process. The woman refused to pay, but gave her documents to the officer in the hopes that her application would eventually be pushed through. Today, she has yet to receive the card, and says all she can do is “wait for a new officer” to replace the one who is still unwilling to sign his name.

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