THE National Registration Department (NRD) will register the births of children born out of wedlock as usual, pending an appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision to allow these children to take their father’s name.

NRD director-general Mohd Yazid Ramli said any changes to how things were done at the department would only be made after the Federal Court ruled on the appeal filed by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

“NRD would like to clarify the decision made by the Court of Appeal on the case involving the registration of a Muslim child under Section 13A(2) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act (BDRA).

“The court has ruled that children born out of wedlock can take their fathers’ names.

“Before this, the High Court ruled that under Islamic law, children born out of wedlock or under six months from the marriage date of their parents cannot bear their fathers’ names.

“What NRD have been doing so far is in accordance with the decision by the National Fatwa Council on this matter,” Yazid said in a statement today.

Justice Abdul Rahman Sebli, who wrote the unanimous decision of a three-man panel, said yesterday the jurisdiction of the NRD director-general was a civil one, bounding the latter to civil law.

This means NRD is to refer to Section 13A(2) of the BDRA when making decisions relating to a child’s surname.

The ruling, which covers both Muslim and non-Muslim children conceived out of wedlock, was made in an appeal involving a 7-year-old child born five months and 24 days (or five months and 27 days according to the Islamic Qamariah calendar) after his parents married.

The child was registered with NRD two years after birth and the parents jointly applied to have “MEMK” named as the father, but the department registered the child as “bin Abdullah” instead.

The Court of Appeal’s decision has drawn a mixed reaction from the legal fraternity as religious authorities insist the matter is one for the shariah courts to decide as it involves Muslims. – July 28, 2017.