JPN holds talks on registration of children born out of wedlock

The National Registration Department is having discussions to seek a more suitable mechanism to register illegitimate children.

KOTA BHARU: The National Registration Department (JPN) is discussing with the home ministry, Attorney-General’s Chambers and all state muftis on the use of “bin” and “binti” in the registration of illegitimate children.

Its director-general Ruslin Jusoh said at the moment, JPN had decided that there were two choices when registering illegitimate children, namely, with “bin Abdullah” and “binti Abdullah” or using the name Asmaul Husna (placing Abdul in front of the name).

“This discussion will later see a more suitable mechanism to register children with invalid status.

“We know most states have their own regulations and enactments, and as such, we also develop ties with the state religious departments to seek a solution in terms of policy.

“To date, discussions have started at the home ministry level first and we will issue a new directive under the existing policy soonest. At the JPN level, we are looking at the compatibility with the recent court decision,” he said.

He said this to reporters after handing over self-identification documents to eight siblings from a family in Kampung Demit Sungai, Kubang Kerian here, which was also attended by Kelantan JPN director Asrehan Ab Razak.

Commenting further, Ruslin said JPN concurred with the decision of the court involving a case in Johor in which the court ruled that a Muslim boy born out of wedlock could not use his father’s name and ordered the JPN director-general to remove the appellation “bin Abdullah” from his birth certificate.

“In this context, technically, a child will have only one name (without bin or binti). To date, we have not taken any action as we have not received the grounds of judgment,” he said. - FMT