Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

Buddhist by Birth, Muslim by Mistake
Thursday, February 8, 2007

Ever since I became the father of twins, I've been creeped out by the expressions "separated at birth" or "switched at birth." I no longer fine the game "separated at birth?" all the amusing, and "switched at birth" hits a bit too close to home, especially since we followed the recommendations of some parents of twins and brought nail polish to paint out girls toes so we would remember which was which (turns out this wasn't necessary...).

Anyway, this story somehow casts new light on the situation, when switched at birth is real, and has consequence on a child's faith.

A Malaysian Muslim man switched at birth in a hospital mix-up wants to change his name after being reunited with his ethnic-Chinese biological family and become a Buddhist.

In multiracial Malaysia, ethnic Malays, who are mostly Muslim, form a majority of the population of roughly 26 million, while ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indians account for about 25 percent and 8 percent respectively.

Sales executive Zulhaidi Omar, 29, was raised in an ethnic Malay family, and discovered his true origins only after a Chinese woman at a supermarket where he worked noticed his features were similar to those of her father, newspapers said.

"The girl who was always looking at me was actually my elder sister who suspected that I was her brother because of my striking resemblance to our father," the Star newspaper quoted Zulhaidi as telling reporters.

Three visits by the girl and her parents convinced him to take a DNA test that confirmed the ties, he added.

Zulhaidi, who unwittingly spent 20 years just a few miles from his real family, now lives with them in Batu Pahat in southern Johor state. But it took him six months before he began to call his parents "Mum" and "Dad."

His natural father, Teo Ma Leong, 66, said he had always suspected the fifth of his six children was switched at birth, because the boy had a dark complexion, the Star said.

Labels: Interfaith Relations, Islam

Posted by B Feiler at 7:05 AM
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