IPOH: Sultan of Perak Sultan Azlan Shah has summoned state executive councillor A. Sivanesan to the palace with regard to the National Registration Department's directive to R. Ragu, 33, to obtain a supporting letter from the ruler to apply for a MyKad.

Besides Sivanesan, the directors of the state National Registration Department and state Welfare Department were also summoned to Istana Kinta at 2.30pm today.

"I was informed by the ruler's office that he wanted the government officers to brief him on Ragu's case. He is showing concern over the lives and living conditions of his subjects," Sivanesan said here yesterday.

Ragu's plight was highlighted in the New Straits Times yesterday.

He had been told by the NRD in Putrajaya to get a letter from Sultan Azlan Shah to enable him to obtain a permanent identification document.

Ragu, his wife G. Neelaawathi, 27, and their three young children arrived here on Tuesday to meet Sultan Azlan Shah to obtain the necessary supporting document.

The family has been sleeping and bathing at petrol stations since their arrival here.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said his ministry would be reissuing a temporary identification document to Ragu immediately.

"He can go to the Perak NRD tomorrow or Monday and obtain his green (temporary) MyKad until the ministry considers his application for a permanent (blue) MyKad," he said after attending buka puasa with Perak NRD staff here yesterday.

He said the government stopped issuing the green MyKad in 2004 but stressed that the ministry planned to re-issue them for the sake of thousands of Malaysians who found it difficult to earn a livelihood without such a card.

Syed Hamid also said the ministry would conduct an investigation to find out who had misled Ragu on the procedure of getting the MyKad.

"He should not have been asked to go to the palace to obtain the letter. We do not involve the Rulers in this situation. That is not the way we (the NRD) operate."

He said the ministry would find a solution for the thousands of Malaysians who did not possess MyKad, adding that the ministry would not sideline any of them.

He said the ministry would attend to Ragu's problem immediately, adding that it could have been avoided if the parties concerned had carried out their duties diligently.