Monday February 5, 2007
Going his own way since he was 13
JOHOR BARU: At 13, he was supporting himself, washing dishes after school to pay for his books and rented room.
Zulhaidi Omar, 29, said he had never been tempted to take the easy way out by dropping out of school or straying into a life of crime. Instead, he worked at restaurants until midnight and washed cars to put himself through secondary school.
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Zulhaidi: Wanted to taste a life of independence |
Unknown to him, he had been swapped at birth during a mix-up at the hospital in Batu Pahat.
“By the time I was in primary school, I knew I was different from the rest of my family members as I could tell the difference between their features and my obviously Chinese appearance,” he said at a press conference.
After a chance meeting that reunited him with his biological family eight years ago, Zulhaidi now wants to change his name to a Chinese one.
Zulhaidi is hoping the authorities would allow him to state his religion as Buddhism on his MyKad.
Bandar Baru Tampoi MCA branch chairman Michael Tay said Zulhaidi was never given the chance to choose his own religion because of a mistake made at birth.
“Under the Federal Constitution, everybody is allowed the freedom to choose his own religion, but Zulhaidi was never given that chance.
“We will try the diplomatic method first through negotiations with state officials and the hospital where he was born. If that fails, then we will have to seek legal recourse,” he said, adding that might even include a suit against the hospital for negligence.
State religious officials were unavailable for comment.
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