Identification card (Republic of Surea)

The Republic of Surea Identification Card (朝本民國身分證) or ROSIC is an identity document issued only to citizens that have a household registration in the Republic of Surea.

If the person moves, he/she must re-register at a municipal office.

Type and Design
ROSIC comes in two main colour schemes, namely green+purple for citizens and blue+pink for permanent residents (PR). Each card is identified by an "Identity Card Number", which is a unique set of twelve alpha-numerics given to each citizen or PR at birth registration or successful attainment of permanent residence status. These numbers are similar to that on birth certificates for citizens, and are automatically transferred to the ROSIC at age 11 and above.

Also indicated on the front side of the card, are the holder's Surean name (including any legal alias), country of birth (PR only), current residential address, ethnicity, and a colour photograph. On the back of the card is the ROSIC number plus another 2 digit indicating the number of ROSIC which a person previously held and its bar code, and issue date of the card. Any change to the information on the card has to be reported to the authorities, or it could be considered an invalid identification card.

Technical specifics and applications
On 23 January 2005, the Department of National Registration of Surea began issuing a new revised Smart Identity card. The new cards contain an embedded microchip, which stores the bearer's information electronically. The ROSIC Smart Identity Card has the dimensions of a standard credit card. The original card contained a 64Kb EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) chip running on the ROSIC-COS (ROSIC Chip Operating System) operating system. In November 2007, the capacity was increased to 128Kb. A register of all cardholders is kept by the DNR, which operates the ROSIC Smart Identity Card system.

The ROSIC Smart Identity Card project was developed at a cost of RM276 million and was originally intended to have four functions:


 * Identity card, including fingerprints and photo
 * Driving licence
 * Passport in Surea and several neighbouring countries, although a conventional passport is still required internationally - this should reduce congestion at Surean borders as holders will pass through unmanned gates using biometric (fingerprint) identification
 * storage for health information

However, two further applications were added before or during its initial release,

ATM integration
 * e-cash, though with a maximum limit of US$ 5000, intended for low value but high volume transactions
 * Digital certificate, commonly known as Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), only supported by the 128Kb version (implemented by the end of 2008)

At this time, most of the functions are still not widely used because they are not widely promoted.

The extensible design of the card may be leading to functionality creep. Further applications envisaged by the government include:


 * frequent travellers' card
 * a merge with the Payment Multi-Purpose Card ('PMPC'), giving the ROSIC Smart Identity Card credit and debit card functions that will pave the way for other financial uses

Identity card number
The ROSIC number consists of 12 digits, with each block serving a certain function, as illustrated below:

yymmdd-bbbbsg

The first six digits signify the person's date of birth. For example, a person born on September 1, 1946, would have 460901 for the first six digits.

bbbb, the seventh through tenth digit, signify a code for the person's place of birth: City/Ward & Prefecture. PR will have the first two of the birth place's code as 00 follow by the birth place's code that indicates their country origin.

s, the 11th digit, is the serial number for the user.

The odd numbers for g, the 12th digit, denotes male while the even numbers denote female, although this may not always be the case as well. In such rare cases, a simple clerical error may cause a male being issued an Identification Card number ending with an even number, and vice versa. However, this error can be rectified at the time of collection of the card, if the holder is aware what the numbers stand for. Otherwise, the cardholder may proceed to use the number issued by the DNR.

Codes representing place of birth
The birth place's code is the 7th through 10th digit of the 12-digit ROSIC Number. The code is based on the place of birth of the ROSIC holder, which will be referred from the birth certificate upon application of the ROSIC.

Below are the codes used for BP which represent the state of birth (within Malaysia) and country of birth (outside Malaysia) for the ROSIC holder.

Usage of identification
Citizens within the Republic of Surea must carry identification in public at all times, compulsory from the age of 11. The identity card is the only acceptable legal document to obtain resident permit, employment, open bank accounts, obtain passport, driver licence, application for tertiary education and technical colleges, security checkpoints in domestic terminals of Surean airports. Documentation is also required for marriages, household registrations and legal cases.

Recently, there have been more services that require the display of identification cards, such as at Internet cafes and certain stores.

Police are required to inspect identification documents where:
 * Criminal suspects need to be identified;
 * To inspect those related to personnel involved in an incident;
 * In the occurrence of a serious security emergency, and there is a requirement to obtain the identity of the a person at the scene;
 * If the law requires so during a case.