SUPP lauds decision by Appeals Court on surname-naming for kids born out of wedlock

MIRI: Sarawak United People’s Party ( SUPP) welcomes the landmark decision by the Court of Appeals to allow a Muslim child conceived out of wedlock to take on his or her father’s surname.

According to Piasau assemblyman Datuk Sebastian Ting, who is SUPP secretary- general, this would prevent the children from facing discrimination from society later in life.

“I read with delight the landmark decision made by the Court of Appeals. We are pleased that the learned judges have made the decision to remove the stigma of these innocent children and give them a standing in society as they should be accorded.

“After all, they too have a father, despite the unfortunate situation that they have been placed in,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Ting believed that not allowing the father’s name to be put on the birth certificate created an ‘unfair social stigma and punishment’ for the mother and child.

“On humanitarian ground, who are we to judge the women who bear children out of wedlock. It is not for us to judge them; instead, we should give them the moral support that they need,” he pointed out.

Justice Abdul Rahman Sebli, who wrote the unanimous decision, said the jurisdiction of the National Registration Department ( NRD) director- general was a civil one and was confined to determine whether the father had fulfilled the requirements of Section 13A( 2) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act ( BDRA) – covering all children conceived out of wedlock, Muslims and non-Muslims.

In 2003, the National Fatwa Committee decided that a child conceived out of wedlock could not carry the name of the person who claims to be the father, if the child was born less than six months of the marriage. In such cases, the child’s surname would be ‘Abdullah’.

On this, the appellate court has ruled that the NRD director- general is not obligated to apply, let alone be bound by a fatwa (religious edict) issued by a religious body such as the National Fatwa Committee.

A fatwa issued by a religious body has no force of law, according to the court’s ruling, unless it has been made or adopted as federal law by an Act of Parliament. Otherwise, a fatwa issued by a religious body will form part of federal law without going through the legislative process.

The appeal was brought by a Muslim couple, who sought an order from the Civil Court to compel the NRD directorgeneral to replace their child’s surname ‘Abdullah’ with the name of the father on the birth certificate.

The two were legally married in 2009 and the child born in Johor in April the following year – less than six month from the date of their marriage. It is learnt that the child’s birth was only registered two years later as late registration and couple jointly applied for the father’s name to be entered on the register as the father of the child.

However on the child’s birth certificate issued on March 6, 2012, his surname was written as ‘Abdullah’. In February 2015, the father’s application to correct the child’s surname was rejected based on fatwa. The couple later filed a judicial review and name the NRD, its director- general and the government as respondents, but the case was dismissed by the High Court.

The couple appealed after that and on May 25 this year, Justice Abdul Rahman together with Justices Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat and Zaleha Yusof, allowed the appeal.

On this case, Ting said aside from legal technicalities, the issue involved the question of should an innocent child be subjected to humiliation, embarrassment and public scorn for the rest of his or her life.

“Still, the question left unanswered for now is what will to happen to the past cases – those on children born out of wedlock who do not have their biological fathers’ names on their birth certificates, or Mykad.

“In my opinion, in view of this legal precedent, those parents should go to the NRD and have this matter addressed. This would strengthen their children’s position in the eyes of the law, also granting them the right to have the names of their biological fathers on record,” said Ting.