Birth-Swap Malaysian Man Files Suit Over Religion

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Birth-swap Malaysian man files suit over religion
June 2, 2007


KUALA LUMPUR -- A Malaysian man mistakenly given to Muslim parents at birth has filed a claim to be legally recognized as a Buddhist, the New Straits Times reported Saturday, amid an ongoing row over religious recognition.

Zulhadi Omar, 29, was registered as a Malay Muslim at birth. But in an incredible chance meeting, an ethnic Chinese couple approached him in a shopping center in February after noticing his similarity to his real father.

Zulhadi said his lawyer had filed the suit Friday after Malaysian authorities failed to respond to a written request for his name and religion to be changed on his birth certificate and identity card.

DNA tests have confirmed Zulhadi is the biological son of Teyo Ma Liong and Lim Sik Hai and not his registered Malay Muslim parents.

"On the day that I was born, a woman named Lim Sik Hai also gave birth to a baby boy at the same hospital," The Star newspaper quoted Zulhadi as saying.

"I was registered a Muslim based on an error at birth. I should have been named Eddie Teyo, son of Teyo Ma Liong and Lim Sik Hai, and a Buddhist."

The move follows the controversial refusal of Malaysia's top secular court to allow a woman who converted from Islam to be legally recognized as a Christian.

The court Wednesday rejected a request by Lina Joy to have the word "Islam" removed from her national identity card after her conversion, saying an Islamic, or sharia, court would first have to recognize her conversion.

Ethnic Malays are defined as Muslims from birth. Renouncing the faith is one of the gravest sins in Islam and is rarely allowed by Islamic authorities.

The Federal Court ruling has been criticized by lawyers, rights groups, and academics, who say it undermines the supremacy of Malaysia's secular constitution, which guarantees freedom of religious practice.

Birth-swap Malaysian man files suit over religion - Culture - Middle East Times