The Star: Man Switched at Birth Reunited With Biological Parents

You have to read this report in today’s Star. I include it below. After that, read on to see my comments. UPDATE 5 FEB is here.

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Woman’s stares led to reunion with biological parents

By MARSHA TAN

JOHOR BARU: Eight years ago Zulhaidi Omar noticed he was getting frequent stares from a particular Chinese girl at a supermarket in Batu Pahat where he worked. 

To his bewilderment, the girl later came with an elderly Chinese couple and all three of them checked him out together. 

Striking resemblance: Teo and Zulhaidi listening to questions during the press conference in Johor Baru.

But things took a serious turn when the couple turned out to be his biological parents. 

“They came to look for me three times and from our conversations, they were convinced that I was their son,” Zulhaidi, 29, told a press conference. 

“I agreed to go for a DNA test and the results confirmed that they were indeed my biological parents. 

“The girl who was always looking at me was actually my elder sister who suspected that I was her brother because of my striking resemblance to our father.” 

Yesterday, the family highlighted their plight to the media because they wanted to change Zulhaidi’s name to a Chinese name, as well as his religion on his identification card to Buddhism instead of Islam. 

As a child, Zulhaidi said, he had always felt out of place because he was teased about his Chinese-like features and never did seem to feel part of the family. When he was 13, Zulhaidi decided to leave his family in search of the truth.  

“My Malay father had left us when I was three. My mother remarried, but I could not get along with my stepfather so I left,” he said.  

“I took on odd jobs such as waiting at tables and working at a car wash to support myself throughout my secondary school.” 

Zulhaidi, now a sales executive, has a diploma in Business Administration. 

His natural father Teo Ma Leong, 66, revealed that among his six children at home, his fifth child Tian Fa has dark features. 

He suspected that Tian Fa, now 29, had been switched at birth and thus ended up growing up with the family. 

Tian Fa is married to a Chinese girl and now, despite the emergence of Zulhaidi, he has no intention of looking for his biological parents. 

“We did not notice anything when the baby was brought home but one month later, we sensed that something was amiss because the baby was darker and did not look like any of us. 

“A check with the hospital gave us no clues, so we brought him up as one of our own, although we knew our actual son was out there somewhere,” said Teo, a former mechanic.  

Teo added that his wife Lim Sik Hai, 62, had to endure a lot of slander and gossip that the baby was born of an affair but Teo knew his wife better and trusted her. 

“When our daughter found Zulhaidi, I knew this is the son we had been looking for. Three months after DNA tests confirmed that he is our son, Zulhaidi agreed to come and live with us,” said Teo, adding that it took another six months before Zulhaidi called them “mum” and “dad”.  

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So, it seems that Zulhaidi is actually Chinese, accidentally (or not?) switched at birth and raised in a Malay family as a Muslim.

His biological parents now want to change his name to a Chinese one, and change his MyKad stated religion to Buddhism instead of Islam. Now that by itself is gonna open up a whole new can of worms, ala Lina Joy and the other recent highly-publicized cases.

But the kicker is this… If the babies were switched, then the biological parents’ child Teo Tian Fa must be of Malay descent! He currently has a Chinese name, is married to a Chinese girl and I hazard a guess that his religion is Buddhism.

Did you catch that? A person of Malay race and Buddhist religion. Another new can of worms for the pundits, with extra zesty flavour…

Note that according to under the Constitution, to be Malay one has to be a Malaysian citizen born to a Malaysian citizen (yes to that), profess to be a Muslim, habitually speak the Malay language, adhere to Malay customs, and domicile in Malaysia or Singapore.

So by legal definition, is Teo Tian Fa Malay?

Let’s see if the Government, press, NGOs or public pick up on this point or quietly let it fade into the background… (I’m personally in favour of me NOT touching this subject until others do, so that I have cover from the ISA.)