SABAH RCI A Filipino-born Christian became a Malaysian citizen after he was given a Muslim name by his father's friend.
This was done to smoothen the documentation process, the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into immigrants in Sabah heard today.
Shafee Mohd Yusof, whose original name was Johnny Amules, told the panel that a man named Mohd Yusof "adopted" him and two siblings when he was 9 years old.
This enabled him to obtain a late birth certificate even though he was not born in Sabah, and he was subsequently issued a MyKad.
Shafee said he had arrived illegally with his stepfather, mother, sister and brother from the Philippines when he was six.
His stepfather Edwin, who worked as a mechanic for a businessman in Semporna, approached a friend, Mohd Yusof to help the children to get documentation so that they could go through school more easily.
Shafee testified that he had started schooling on the basis of a declaration letter from the Semporna district office when Mohd Yusof took him to the National Registration Department office in Semporna.
Wife has no local documents
He and his siblings were then issued late birth certificates under a Muslim name for each of them.
The birth certificate states Mohd Yusof as being Shafee's father; Mohd Yusof's wife as the mother; and Semporna as the place of birth.
"He also helped us get our Kad Bunga Raya (old IC). The MyKad is the only thing I applied for myself," Shafee said.
His stepfather and mother are still living in Semporna without documents, he said, but he does not know Mohd Yusof's whereabouts.
His sister and brother, whose original names were Abigail and Leo, are both practising Muslims, Shafee said.
Shafee is now married to a Muslim Filipino national who also does not have documents except for a Philippine passport. Their three children all have birth certificates and the MyKid.
