In living colour...

Coloured hair may be trendy but stick to grey or black if you want to apply for MyKad at the National Registration Department (NRD), reports the Star.

“Problems will arise if the police cannot recognise the bearer from the photograph in his identity card if he changed his hair colour later on,” explained State NRD director Muhammad Pauzi Abdullah.

Now let us suppose that I am ignorant enough to question this line of reasoning. Surely a potential felon will still be able to change his/her hair color and style to try and evade detection. So what is the rationale for this again? And supposing a girl has blonde hair because her father is British and her mother a second generation immigrant from Bosnia? Should she either dye her hair or point to the roots of her hair to prove that she is naturally and legally blonde?

While I understand the underlying reason for this, the manner in which this was explained leaves much to be desired. No wonder certain ministers feel they are beyond the criticism of civil servants! Maybe it's because of this lack of common sense that rules need to be enforced on a strict black and white basis, i.e. stictly by the book, since those in charge and below can't seem to exercise a proper value judgement on something so objective...