Only Sabah recognises mixed-race

One Malaysia, but three sets of registration rules

The attempt by Subang Jaya assemblyperson Hannah Yeoh and her husband to register their daughter's race as 'Anak Malaysia' has exposed the rigidity of our national registration system.

Not only that, Malaysiakini found that there are three different registration rules in the country - for Sabah, Sarawak and the peninsula - although the registration bodies all come under the National Registration Department (NRD).

Only Sabah recognises mixed-race, but limits this to Chinese and native parents, while Sarawak has made it compulsory for the child to follow the father's race.

The peninsula allows the child's parents to choose either the father's race or the mother's.

According to an officer at the Sabah NRD branch, parents can choose to have the child registered as 'mixed race', other than that of the mother or father.

“If the father is a Chinese and the mother a Kadazan, their child can be Chinese or Kadazan, or even Sino-native,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted yesterday.

azlanHe explained that in the past, parents could choose various terms, such as 'Sino-Kadazan' or 'Sino-Murut' , when the registration was done manually.

After the registration system was computerised, only 'Sino-native' has been available as the "race" of the child.

“We have requested to have the old terms back but it has not been appoved yet,” the officer said.

However, for a child from the marriage of a native and a non-Chinese, the race stated must be that of the father or the mother. The mixed-race option is only available to native-Chinese parents.

“There is no 'Indian-native' or 'Malay-native' available,” the NRD officer said.

It's more rigid in Sarawak

On the other hand, the birth registration system in Sarawak is more rigid. A child's race must follow that of the father.

“It is compulsory to follow the father's ethnicity,” an officer in the Sawarak NRD branch told Malaysiakini yesterday.

If the father is a foreigner, his nationality will become the child's 'race', she said.

“Say the father is Italian, the child's race will be 'Italy'. If the father is Singaporean, the child's race would be 'Singapore',” the officer explained.

However, the Sarawak registration rule appears to contradict the definition of 'native' stipulated in the federal constitution.

Article 161A(6)(a) states that a Sarawakian can only be considered as native if both parents are natives.

For Sabah, Article 161A(6)(b) states that a Sabahan can be considered as native as long as one of the parents or grandparents is a native.

However, the current registration rule in the state also allows those who fall within this definition to choose not to be a "native".

Kuek Ser Kuang Keng (Malaysiakini)