What’s in a name? For Malaysian Muslims born out of wedlock, stigma and alienation

Last week was a difficult one for child rights activist Dr Hartini Zainudin. She received a letter from a stateless woman, 23, who was contemplating suicide because her Malaysian citizenship application had been rejected.

“The rejection was because she was born out of wedlock to an Indonesian mother and Malaysian father, and so is not recognised as Malaysian,” Hartini said. “More insidious and traumatic was that she has siblings who were born after their parents were married, and so they are considered Malaysian and have access to public school and subsidised health care – she is the only one who doesn’t receive these things.”

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The letter came just days after Malaysia’s top court granted the National Registration Department (NRD) a stay on an earlier Court of Appeal ruling that allowed Muslim children conceived out of wedlock to take their father’s name.

In Malaysia, a fatwa issued by the National Fatwa Council forbids Muslim children conceived out of wedlock from carrying their father’s name. The fatwa, which applies to both infants born out of wedlock and those born within the first six months of their parents’ marriage, means such children tend to go by the name of “bin Abdullah” or “binti Abdullah” – son or daughter of a servant of Allah – a generic name that is often also pushed onto converts to the religion.

In 2015, a Muslim couple from Johor brought a case against the NRD so their child, born five months into the marriage, could take the father’s name. In its grounds of judgment released in July, the Court of Appeal said the fatwa was “not law and has no force of law and cannot form the legal basis for the National Registration director general to decide on the surname” of a child conceived out of wedlock. It said the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957 made no distinction between a Muslim or non-Muslim child.

In its decision, the Court of Appeal said the fatwa amounted to “open and public humiliation” of an innocent child as he or she would have to bear the stigma throughout their life. This decision was praised in many quarters, including Muslim groups and activists; but some more conservative Muslims called the ruling unconstitutional and tantamount to legitimising illicit sex.

The NRD applied for – and obtained – a stay on this decision while it appealed the ruling. Its case will be considered by the Federal Court next month. The Johor State Islamic Council also applied to intervene.