The name issue again

1. During my school days my surname ‘Marikan’ was quite an embarrassment to me. Its otherness often exposed me to ridicule by mischievous classmates. Consequently, I got used to writing my name without the surname ‘Marikan.’

2. Later I realised that the usual spelling was ‘Merican.’ My father wrote his name Md. Ismail Merican or simply M. I. Merican on almost all of his books. A birth announcement in a local paper had my name printed Mohamed Sheriff Merican.

3. Incidentally, my birth certificate had my name written M. Sharif Marikan bin M. Ismail Marikan. Obviously my father had entrusted someone to register my birth without giving the person proper instruction regarding the writing of our names. Thus, Mohamad was simply abbreviated to M and Merican was spelt Marikan.

4. It was not until recently that I had decided to rectify what was erroneous for a very long time. I thought of requesting for a correction of my surname in my birth certificate. It would involve changing a vowel and a consonant to replace Marikan with Merican.

5. To go about it I thought the first thing I should do was to obtain a copy of my father’s death certificate - the only available evidence that could serve my purpose. So, last week I drove to the registration department accompanied by my wife.

6. We were there about 15 minutes before ten. I told the receptionist that I wish to obtain my parents’ death certificates. She gave me a couple of forms to fill and told me to make two copies of my IC.

7. Having completed the tasks, I was given a queue ticket. I settled back beside my wife and waited my turn. There were several clerks at the counter attending to their clients. It was quite wearisome, but at long last my turn came.

8. I handed the forms and duplicates of my IC to the clerk at the counter. Then I gave her my IC when she asked for it and she checked my particulars in the forms against it.

9. Having done that she turned to her computer and started keying data to search for the documents. After a while it seemed that she had noticed dissimilarity between my parents’ names in their death certificates and their names in my birth certificate.

10. She consulted an officer seated at a table against the wall of a room just behind her. Then she told me to wait for a while and went into the room.

11. Minutes later she came back with two declaration forms for me to fill in and have them certified by a commissioner for oaths. I had to make separate declarations to affirm that both individuals whose death certificates I sought were my natural parents.

12. In front of a small office several people were already waiting their turn to see the commissioner. I placed the declaration forms into a rectangular plastic tray basket on the counter and waited my turn.

13. As time ticked away, the waiting had just begun to get wearisome when I heard my name called out through a small loudspeaker. I greeted the commissioner and handed my IC to him.

14. He checked the declaration forms to see that everything was in order. Then he asked me to put my signature on both documents and afterwards he certified them. I paid him RM8 for his service and then hurried back to the registration office.

15. I got a fresh queue ticket and noticed that the clerk who attended to me was already gone. When my turn came I was attended by another clerk.

16. As she busied herself with the computer, I asked her if I could get a copy of my birth certificate because the original document was in tatters.

17. She responded affirmatively and advised me on the procedure. I got another form from the receptionist, completed it, made another copy of my IC and then handed them to the clerk.

18. I paid RM5 for each search. After waiting for a while I finally got my parents’ death certificates as well as a fresh copy of my birth certificate.

19. I was so glad and felt a great relief on account of having accomplished my purpose for the day. It was well past two and past lunchtime, so I decided to call it a day.

20. But my wife insisted that I inquire about my ultimate purpose of changing the spelling of my surname from Marikan to Merican.

21. So, I reluctantly approached the receptionist again and explained my purpose to her and she gave me a queue ticket and I waited my turn.

22. Time seemed to pass very slowly, but finally my turn came. Yet another clerk attended to me and after explaining my purpose to him I was told to make duplicates of my father’s death certificate and my birth certificate.

23. Upon submitting the duplicates to the clerk he asked for my phone number. He told me that my request along with the documents would be submitted to the National Registration Department headquarters in Putrajaya for processing.

24. I think the processing will take a month or so. Let’s hope it goes well. But if nothing happens within a couple of months, then I would have to go back to the registration office to inquire about my request.