Elated: Corina showing her new birth certificate.
PETALING JAYA: On Dec 18, Lee Swee Eng’s ethnic classification changed from Chinese to Baba Nyonya, a transition that left him elated.
Lee, 70, was among the early applicants to successfully amend their birth certificates to reflect their Baba Nyonya lineage under a pilot project.
For Lee, the official recognition was emotional.
“All our lives, we were neither truly Chinese nor Malay.
“We speak Baba Malay at home and practise our own customs, but on paper we were just listed as ‘Chinese’. Now, we finally belong to a recognised category,” he said.
The Star reported on Thursday that the Baba Nyonya throughout the country would now be allowed to register their lineage in their documents.
Baba and Nyonya Association of Malaysia chairman Datuk Ronald Gan was quoted as saying that a pilot project, which began in Melaka on Oct 1 last year under the Home Ministry and National Registration Department (NRD), had enabled the community to be formally recognised for the first time as a distinct ethnic lineage.
The initiative would pave the way for an estimated 280,000 Peranakan people to be registered as Baba Nyonya, rather than Chinese.
Lee said that it took him about one and a half months to get the process sorted out.
“I filled out official forms, swore affidavits before a Commissioner for Oaths and secured a supporting letter from the Baba and Nyonya Association of Malaysia,” he said.
An applicant must also submit documents like MyKad, a birth certificate and, where applicable, parents’ death certificates.
First-time applicants are also required to attend formal interviews with the NRD officers. After the interview, applications are reviewed by an NRD panel committee before approval is granted.
False declarations are treated as a serious offence.
Lee was notified that his application was approved about a month after the interview. He collected his updated birth certificate last month.
Given the increasing number of applications, Lee said that the waiting time for interviews has become longer.
Corina Lee, 59, too, was also sentimental about finally being recognised as Baba Nyonya.
“Of course I’m proud. Before this, people didn’t really understand who we were.
“Now there is more awareness, and this helps preserve our legacy,” she said, adding that formal recognition would help ensure the community does not fade with future generations.
She said older birth and death records often had to be digitally extracted and updated before applications could proceed.
Children of approved applicants can subsequently apply with fewer requirements and without interviews.
