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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 on 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.
 --AFP
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