JABATAN PENDAFTARAN NEGARA & ORS v. SEORANG KANAK-KANAK & ORS; MAJLIS AGAMA ISLAM NEGERI JOHOR (INTERVENER)
FEDERAL COURT, PUTRAJAYA
ROHANA YUSUF PCA; AZAHAR MOHAMED CJ (MALAYA); DAVID WONG DAK WAH CJ (SABAH AND SARAWAK); MOHD ZAWAWI SALLEH FCJ; ABANG ISKANDAR FCJ; IDRUS HARUN FCJ; NALLINI PATHMANATHAN FCJ
[CIVIL APPEAL NO: 01(f)-43-09-2017(W)]
13 FEBRUARY 2020

The decision of the Director General of National Registration (DGNR) in declining to allow a Malay Muslim illegitimate child to bear his biological father's name in his birth certificate is legal, rational and reasonable, and does not in any way militate against the purport of s. 13A(2) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957 (BDRA) or the child's fundamental constitutional liberties. Section 13A BDRA, which allows a child's surname to be stated in his birth certificate, cannot apply to a Malay Muslim child, since a Malay Muslim child, in reality and by culture and tradition, never carries a surname, and also because the biological father's name by definition does not constitute a surname. Be that as it may, and whilst the DGNR in so registering the birth may apply the child's Islamic personal law to the registration process, his decision to ascribe "bin Abdullah" to the child's name upon the adoption of a fatwa issued by the National Fatwa Committee (NFC) is wrong in law and devoid of any legal basis. As the child was born in the State of Johor, and the State has not adopted nor gazetted the NFC's fatwa, the same cannot apply to the State, and consequently, the DGNR, in imposing the fatwa on the child, has usurped the power of the Fatwa Committee of Johor and violated ss. 49 and 52 of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (State of Johor) Enactment 2003. Consequentially, the words "bin Abdullah" must be removed from the child's birth certificate.
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