The NGO urged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to immediately order the National Registration Department (NRD) to accept and register all children whose parents request that they be registered as 'Anak Malaysia'.
"We unreservedly support the right of the parents to determine the identity of their beloved child.
"We wholeheartedly commend Hannah (right) and Rama for the courage to stand by their principles. "Their stand to remind us of our common identity as human beings, and as members of this collective called Malaysia, deserves the highest accolade," said SABM in a statement today.
It pointed that two years ago, the government had announced that it was reviewing the need for the category 'ethnicity' in all official forms.
"We wonder as to the status of this review exercise. Obviously the NRD has not acted on this decision yet.
"In this era of information technology, the NRD's reason that their system is not designed to capture a new 'identity' can only be considered lame.”
SABM said that Najib should take immediate action to show that the government is sincere about actualising its vision of 1Malaysia.
"We, as a people, need to consciously reject the ethnic silos created by politicians and bureaucrats alike.
"We call upon all Malaysians to stand with Hannah and Rama in this noble struggle to challenge the anachronistic paradigm of governance premised on 'ethnicity',” read the statement.
NRD had rejected Yeoh's (right) request to register her infant daughter Shay Adora Ram as 'Anak Malaysia', saying that the couple can only choose either Chinese or Indian.
Yeoh eventually chose Chinese, but decided to write to both Najib and NRD to appeal.
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