By Debra Chong
June 09, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 — The DAP pledged today to back Hannah Yeoh and Ramachandran Muniandy all the way to court in their bid to register their newborn child as an “Anak Malaysia” for her official ethnicity.
In a statement today, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said he has directed the party’s legal adviser, Gobind Singh Deo, to represent the interracial couple in court should they decide to pursue the case.
“Forcing Hannah and Ramachandran to choose either Indian or Chinese is repugnant when they just want their child to be known as Malaysian,” Lim said.
“By deliberately forcing us into ethnic boxes BN is not celebrating diversity nor creating a common Malaysian identity, but opportunistically playing divide-and-rule politics,” the Penang chief minister added, criticising the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.
Subang Jaya state lawmaker Yeoh, 32, and her husband had sparked controversy earlier this week after tweeting their failure to win approval from the National Registration Department (NRD) to register their daughter as “Anak Malaysia” under the category for race.
The NRD issued a statement yesterday explaining it was unable to process the duo’s unorthodox request as policy determined the child’s race follow the parents; leaving Yeoh and Ramachandran two options — Chinese or Indian.
The couple subsequently chose to register their firstborn as Chinese, but said they would appeal to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.