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by Eileen Ng

KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 (AFP) - What's in a name? For Malaysians, a government proposal for all citizens to adopt family names has kicked up a storm among the Muslim majority who fear losing their identity.

The National Registration Department announced Thursday it planned to streamline the use of family names, or surnames, among Malaysians in line with global practice.

"We are studying how this can be done, taking into account the current practices and cultures of the different races," said the department's director-general Azizan Ayob.

The proposal cuts close to home for ethnic Malays and Indians, who do not carry surnames but inherit their father's given name.

It will see Malays omitting "bin" which connotes "son of" or "binti" for "daughter of" from their names.

Indians will also drop the "a/l" and "a/p" tag -- the Malay-language terms for "son of" and "daughter of" respectively which former British colonialists foisted on them.

Ethnic Chinese and other minority communities in the country such as Eurasians and Portuguese already carry surnames to denote family lineage and their clanship.

Malays make-up over half of Malaysia's multi-cultural 23 million population, followed by Chinese who account for about a quarter and Indians seven percent.

The registration department has sought public feedback on its proposal, which has been hotly debated in top English-language newspaper The Star in a daily column.

The Consumers Association of Penang president S.M. Mohamed Idris called on Malaysians to "say no to globalisation of names", saying there was no fixed universal trend in giving names.

He said Malaysians should be proud of having names in accordance with tradition and culture.

The opposition Parti Islami SeMalaysia (PAS), which aims for theocratic rule in Malaysia, also protested the move and called for a study to see if the move was acceptable to Muslims.

PAS information chief Azizan Abdul Razak said "bin" and "binti" were part of the Malay culture and the identity of the Malay race must not be sacrificed for the sake of making departmental work easier.

"Why must you erase this culture and tradition?" he asked.

But a supporter of the move is renowned academic Ungku Abdul Aziz bin Ungku Abdul Hamid, who said he believed it was beneficial to have surnames in the computer age where a person's identity was classified alphabetically.

He said Malay names, especially long ones such as his, were a problem as people overseas did not know how to address him.

"I am a Muslim no matter how my name is written," said Sabahan Said Hinayat, echoing Shakespeare famous line: "A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet."

The proposal was also warmly greeted by the Indian community, many who found the "a/l" and "a/p" prefixes a hassle when they travel abroad and have to put up with quizzing from immigration officers.

"We welcome the proposed new system as it will not cause confusion in foreign countries," said Malaysian Hindu Sangam president A. Vaithylingam.

The Penang Youth Hindu Council president P. Rajendran also gave the thumbs-up to the proposal, saying it would promote racial integration.

People's Progressive Party official Loga Bala Mohan said it was in line with Prime Minister Mahathir (bin) Mohamad's vision of creating a truly "Malaysian race."

Sisters in Islam, a non-governmental organisation, urged the government to leave it to individuals to decide whether to retain or drop the "bin" and "binti" prefixes from their names. 

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