Human rights organisations and the Bar Council have opposed the proposal to record the fingerprints and footprints of newborn babies into a criminals finder database.

Contacted today, Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) coordinator S Arutchelvan said such a move would generate fear among the public.

"It will create a negative perception...this idea is ridiculous. It can be used to create unnecessary fear," he said, adding that the public would be uneasy knowing that their identities would be in the hands of the authorities since birth.

The New Straits Times today reported that the police have proposed for the recording of all 10 fingerprints and footprints of newborn babies in order to curb crime in the future.

The police said this could prove to be useful in cases where thumb prints are inadequate for identification purposes.

Arutchelvan said the move would contradict the government's claim that the crime rate in the country is low.

He added that a detailed study should be carried out involving non-governmental organisations working with children before any such policy is implemented.

'Atmosphere of fear'

National Human Rights Society (Hakam) secretary-general Elizabeth Wong said the authorities have no right to store the fingerprints and footprints of the public.

She said the public would be fearful as to how these details could be used against them in the future.

The activist added that a child should be brought up in an open environment, and not create an "atmosphere of fear."

Dismissing the proposal as a waste of time and resources, she said the police should instead focus on better training, enhancing forensic techniques and upgrade facilities at police stations.

Also rejecting the proposal was the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

Its commissioner N Siva Subramaniam said the information, being accessible to other agencies, could be misused and this is 'definitely worrying'.

He said personal identity is something private and should be kept confidential.

"Absolutely, this (recording of fingerprints and footprints) is (an act of) human rights' invasion," he added.

Manipulated society

Meanwhile, the Consumer Association of Penang (CAP) said that the proposed system not only will produce a society that can be monitored and manipulated by the government but was also open to abuse if it fell into wrong hands.

"The recent discovery of a group fabricating identity cards based on information kept under secrecy in the National Registration Department should serve as a warning to the authorities not to expose our citizens to unnecessary risks," said CAP president SM Mohamed Idris in a statement

He added that there was no compelling evidence that the use of modern technology has produced a marked reduction in the commission of crimes. Instead, he said, the police should focus on crime prevention rather than on acquiring the latest techniques of detection at great cost.

"The cities in the United States, which use the latest technological methods in crime detection, are, still, among the worst crime-infested places."

Wrong impression

Malaysian Bar Council President Yeo Yang Poh said the move will give an impression that every newborn is a potential criminals and this should be avoided.

"It should not likely be implemented," he said, adding that it is necessary to avoid taking accumulative steps by being the "big brother police state."

He said with the scientific methods available at present, such a policy is not required. He added that more effort should be directed at crime prevention and not merely crime solving methods.

"Do we really need this if we have better scientific methods?" he said, citing DNA samples as an example of reliable methods that the authorities should look into.

He also expressed concern on the security of the database, asking if it can be guaranteed that the data will not be altered.

Federal Crime Scene Section Head Supt Amidon Anan was quoted in the New Straits Times report today as saying that the proposed system was being discussed internally among senior officers.

"We hope to talk to the National Registration Department about finger- and foot-printing when the time comes.

"Let's say, police cannot find a suspect. But with the thorough registration of the fingerprints and footprints of all Malaysians (in future), we can just match a print to those available in the NRD database," he was quoted as saying.