Sunday, April 18, 2010

NRD Doing Something Right!

In the past there were a lot of complaints against the National Registration Department (NRD)'s practice of registering a child as belonging to the race of its father.

This complicated things when the marriage is between a native and non-native, for example between a Chinese and Kadazandusun. If the father is a Chinese the child would be registered as Chinese and this would make the child unable to inherit native land from the mother, should the mother have one.

However, it seems that the NRD has finally changed the way things are done. Now, parents who are not of the same race can choose the race of the child. For example if the father is a Chinese and the mother is a Murut, they can choose to declare their child as a Chinese or a Murut.

This is indeed a step in the right direction by the NRD. It seems the NRD is finally doing something right. Kudos to the NRD!

16 comments:

SJDisimon said...

The NRD has finally come its senses of allowing parents who are not of the same race, to choose the race of their children. The Kadazan Society Sabah (KSS) has been trying to address this delima faced by mixed marriage parents.

KSS is also against NRD to register children of mixed marriage between Kadazan and Dusun as Kadazandusun. The race should either be Kadazan or Dusun, whichever race they are comfortable with.

Anonymous said...

i'm of mixed parents too...why can't i be known as i am..a Sino- kadazan.why do i have to chose between chinese or kadazan.

son of seventh

Anonymous said...

By virtue of the Federal Constitution, a person in Sabah is a native when either one of his grandparents is a native. However I am not so sure why Sino-Kadazan, Indo-Kadazan, Anglo-Kadazan cannot be registered.

Anonymous said...

Beware! refer to some articles about Racism & Colonialism policy of Federal Msia towards Borneo minorities... which the NRD could repeat this history crimes...

DAILY EXPRESS INTERNET EDITION
Forum, Sunday, 23 September, 2007

I REFER to your recent report in which Sabah Archives Director, Datu
Tigabelas Datu Zainal Abidin clarified that his statement on Tun Fuad Stephens was not meant in a negative way.
He had earlier made a statement that Fuad was "half white" when asked why the Tun was excluded from an exhibition at the State archive.
However, I do not see how his statement is not negative when he said Fuad was excluded because he was "half white." This is a racist statement.
Datu Tigabelas does not even seem to know his history despite being the State Archives Director. Fuad was not "half white". His father was half Kadazan and half Caucasian. His mother was half Japanese and half Caucasian.
Fuad's father was the product of inter-racial marriage which was common between Kadazandusuns and Caucasian officers during the time of the North Borneo Company.
Fuad's father was very much a Sabahan. He even dropped his surname when he found out that his father had a first wife. He preferred to be identified with his mother's race.
Fuad's father was not the only one who was a product of such marriages.
There are many such cases in Sabah during Company days and even after World War 2.......Now, if someone
were to exclude him from something by saying that he is half white, that would be very cruel. In fact it is downright racist.
Datu Tigabelas should not have said that. Whether one is half white, quarter white or just white, he or she should be regarded as a Sabahan if he or she is a Sabahan.....He was also instrumental in helping draw up the 20 Points which among others
safeguarded native rights and made the natives of Sabah equal to the Malays in Malaya.....If there was anyone who was truly responsible for Sabah's independence on August 31 in 1963, it would be Fuad. To exclude him by saying he was "half white" would be ignorant of history.....Datu Tigabelas should apologise for his stupid outburst. He had insulted the first Huguan Siou!
-- (Historian Sandanakan)

MIGS-SABAH said...

Please check this out -
Fed Const 161A (6)(b) where the race is based on the father domicile in Sabah at the time of the birth.

I want to know this interpretation as far as NRD is now doing.


Joshua Kong
co-king of Borneo
PM for IGGG M'sia

UrbanChicks said...

Like it or not they already end up with, choose only 1. There's no more Sino.

jack said...

what about the child who mother and father are sabahan but born outside sabah such as peninsula or sarawak? NRD should fix this..

pirate said...

NRD should take all public opinions in order to improve their weakness and overcome the problems. I know that it is very complicated, but there must have a solution if you strive find it.

Dae-chan said...

Finally, NRD is now doing something that make sense..

POP said...

It's not very fair to the mother of the child, as the child have the mixed blood of both. I'm a mixed too, but in law i was told that i'm suppose to follow my father whose a chinese...

aku bah said...

hmmm. Jadi untung lah kalau Bapa Om, Mama Kadazan... Konpom dorang pilih bangsa kadazan kan... hhhmmm

Paquin said...

I just hope NRD is doing the right thing.
Sound good but for me it's quite better if people's opinion take into consideration first before made any decision.

Asmawati said...

Ooo. Sudah confirm ka ni? Bila pelaksanaannya coz saya belum dengar tentang hal ni pula.
apapun saya harap NRD buat keputusan yg betul.

Anonymous said...

Kepada Aku Bah,
Kalau bapak Om, mama Dusun tidak apa! Banyak sudah sia nampak durang ni yang buli ikut rentak kita. Tapi kalau bapa Pilipin atau Bugis dan mama Dusun itu yang susah hati tu. Pertama tergadai agama! Kedua hilang identiti anak! Ketiga suda kawin Dusun, lepas tu pi kawin lagi lain! Lagipun kebanyakan Om tiada IC projek, yang ada IC tu memang original la tu. Kalau Om yang pakai paspot tu jangan harap la kerajaan mau kasi IC, abis durang bukan Islam!

Anonymous said...

Re: Tun Fuad Stephen's father, the half-Kadazan and half-Caucasian, Jules Stephens also just happened to be "one of those gallant men of all races who, loyal to the cause of freedom, were murdered and buried" on 21 January 1944 at what is now known as the Petagas War Memorial. He was one of the Kinabalu Guerrillas. He fought alongside Albert Kwok. Tun Fuad's father was a war hero in case some nitwit didn't know.

komplot said...

NRD need some serious overhaul, in & out...& the federal government should play proactive role in turning NRD to a trusted government department once again...