Sabah is working on a definitive list of the state’s large number of ethnic groups to help solve its natives’ long-standing identity woes, notably those with the word “bin” or “binti” in their names, and may also do away with the controversial category “and others” in official government forms.
The list, to be endorsed by the State Cabinet, will also be used as a guideline for the federal government in reference to classifying Sabahan natives, state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said today, so as not to wrongly classify those with “bin” and “binti” in their names as Muslims.
“A list of resolutions and suggestions to aid classification and identification of Sabahans will be drafted and made available soon.
“The hope is that the outcome of this workshop is to produce a list which we can give to the Federal Government to serve as a guideline for future reference,” he told reporters after attending the closing ceremony of a workshop on the classification and identity of Sabahans here.
Discussions are currently in the first phase. The second phase is slated to be early next year to allow time to study and collect more information before bringing it up for discussion.
The guide is expected to list the ethnic and sub-ethnic groups in Sabah of which there are over 30. There are 95 sub ethnic groups of the Kadazan alone.
“The exact number is not known. For instance, we found out that there are sub-ethnics groups that now qualify to become a full ethnic group. So there is definitely the possibility that the number of ethnic groups in Sabah will be increased in future,” Masidi said.
The Sabah Cultural Board held a three-day workshop that ended today, to address several issues like identification of ethnicity in birth certificates and identification documents, the “lain lain” race option in forms and the confusion of “bin” and “binti” for non-Muslims.
Masidi said that the “misunderstanding” occurred because of the lack of awareness from Peninsular Malaysians in the National Registration Department (NRD).
“I am told that the State NRD will be playing a role in helping to solve this issue moving forward,” he said.
Some 162 cases have been reported of Sabahan native Christians stepping forward with issues of being classified as Muslims in their MyKad, which had caused problems when they tried to register their marriages.
The complainants claimed the NRD refused to entertain their requests, telling the complainants to take up their grouses with the Shariah Court.
Earlier during his speech, Masidi said that the “bin” and “binti” practice was introduced in Sabah during the British rule when all native boys had “bin” in their names while all girls were given “binti”.
“It does not denote religion nor race. It was simply a practice, like how Indians in Malaya had ‘son of’ in their names,” he said.
“They might assume anyone using the ‘bin’ and ‘binti’ in their names are Muslim,” the state minister said, referring to Peninsular Malaysians, and added, “We have to make them understand this is not the case here.”