Dear Mr Prime Minister,

Congratulations on your new appointment as our new prime minister. I am writing on behalf of infants and toddlers who are barely old enough to talk and walk, let alone comprehend the stigma bestowed upon them by the National Registration Department or Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara ( JPN ).

I do not know if you are aware that for a few years now the JPN officials have been playing religious officials when parents come to report the births of their babies. Marriage certificates are scrutinised and arithmetic calculations carried out and if they think the babies are conceived out of wedlock, then the fathers' names are not entered into the register.

The child is automatically given a 'bin’ or ‘binti Abdullah ' at the end of their names. Only the mothers' names are entered in the register. Even if when the parents marry eventually. There is a provision in the law which states that if both parents declare and attest that the child is theirs, the registrar has to enter both parents’ names in the birth certificates.

To my knowledge this law has not been amended by Parliament. JPN has acted on its own and apply it only to the Malays.

To my understanding , this action by JPN started after the National Fatwa Council passed a fatwa with regard to illegitimate children.But a fatwa is just an advice. It is not legally binding. Not until the Yang Di Pertuan Agong has consented to it.

I doubt it if His Majesty would agree to it knowing how these children would be taunted and teased once they go to school. Not to mention the disharmony and shame it would bring to the family.

A birth certificate is just a piece of paper which contains facts. It is not a religious document. It is no different from a land title grant or a car regisration card. A child has every right to have his/ her father's name on the certificate.

The JPN officials have got themselves entangled in knots because of the word ' bin' and 'binti'. This is a Arab thing which we should do away with. There are hundreds of millions of Muslims in China and in Indonesia who do not use the ‘bin’ or ‘binti’.

The other day a child came to my surgery with the name Siti Nurhaliza Kamillia Binti Abdul Syukor Hamid. Will this child be able to spell her name when she goes to Year One in school? How is this child going to fill computerised forms in the future with a name like this?

JPN should instead go on an education exercise to inform the public to name their children with short and simple names and use surnames.Do away with the ‘bin’ or ‘binti’. If there are no surnames, just take a word out of the father's or grandfather's names.

It is my sincere wish that you as the prime minister would take up this matter and return to the children their fathers' names.