Identity crisis for Indian with Chinese name

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Indian hawker Philip Choong Kim Hoong has a Chinese name that is getting him nowhere as officials insist that information on his birth certificate is false.

Adopted at birth and given the name by his foster-parents, Choong has faced problems in education and getting a job, a media report said Sunday.

Choong, who turns 28 March 17, said he was forced to accept meagre wages from employers, unable to get his driving licence and could not open a bank account for the past 16 years.

“I cannot even marry my girlfriend.”

Choong says his original birth certificate contained details of his adoptive parents.

The National Registration Department seized his birth certificate when he applied for MyKad, the national identity card, at the age of 12.

“A department officer told me that my birth certificate contained false information,” he told The Star newspaper.

“After confiscating my birth certificate, the department gave me another copy but without any details of my adoptive parents. They did not even give me instructions on what I should do after that. They told me that’s the way it was and that I should just accept it,” he said.

He went to the department countless times to appeal and seek help but to no avail.

Ethnic Indian and Chinese are significant minorities in multi-racial Malaysia.

Choong is one of the nearly two million ethnic Indians who have made Malaysia their home.