Which reminds me that in my own country Australia, people have been dead set against National ID cards. The main reason, I think, being for human rights concerns, that the government would have too much control of you. To which: you have to have some form of “photo ID” anyway when you do all sorts of things, like vote, rent a car… and, in any case there didn’t seem to be much push back against the various governments intrusions during Covid: vaccine mandates and so on, arguably more intrusive than ID cards.
Other countries don’t like ID cards, like the US, the UK and NZ, the Anglosphere basically. For the UK there’s the fear of a “papers, please” society, the Nazi polizei demands.
Speaking from a place that has had ID cards for all the forty years I’ve been here, I think they’re fantastic. Convenient, easy to use, hassle free. It connects your tax records, bank accounts, car licence, medical insurance. In those wonderful pre-Covid days, when we travelled, coming back into HK was a 30-second matter of putting the card into a reader and you’re through. No passport needed, all automated, connected to the ID card. Magic.
Anyway, I reckon ID cards are the bomb. And so does everyone here, locals and expats from anywhere including those suspicious Anglo-countries. ID cards are great. If you get a chance to vote on them do so, they’ll simplify life. (Probably make it safer too).
