Bin, Binti, A/L And A/P Are Not Compulsory On A Malaysian IC. They Are A Choice.

Most Malaysians assume the connector is mandatory. It is not.

According to a Ministry of Home Affairs position reported by AskLegal, the use of 'A/L' (anak lelaki) and 'A/P' (anak perempuan) among the Indian community is not an obligation but a choice — and the same applies for Muslim parents.

So this is an application, not a battle. But the process is not identical for everyone, and we set out the difference honestly below.

What these connectors are

Malaysia has no single national naming system. It runs several community systems at once, and JPN records all of them on one document.

Two points of clarity worth having:

a/l and a/p (Malay) and s/o and d/o (English) are the same thing in two languages, not two different systems. That is the one genuine equivalence among the connectors.

bin and binti mark Muslims and are not interchangeable with a/l and a/p.

Most Malaysians have no surname in the Western sense. Malays and most Indian Malaysians use patronymics — the father's name — so there is no shared family name and the last word changes with every generation. Chinese Malaysians do have an inherited surname, and it comes first.

Example: Ananthan a/l Muthu is Ananthan, son of Muthu. His daughter is Kavitha a/p Ananthan. Address him as Mr Ananthan — never Mr Muthu.

How to apply for removal

1. Get an oath letter (surat sumpah). Attend a Commissioner of Oaths and declare that you wish to remove the connector from your name or your child's. Complete the form and have it signed by the Commissioner.

1. Go to JPN. Walk in to your nearest branch and ask to do a Permohonan Pindaan Butiran Kad Pengenalan — Application to Amend Identification Card Details.

1. Complete form KP.16, enclosing the supporting documents including the oath letter.

1. Bring: your birth certificate, MyKad, and — if the applicant is a child — the parent's MyKad.

1. Be ready to explain. You may be asked why, so give your reason plainly.

Legal name changes are made through JPN generally via a statutory declaration and an application to amend the record, after which a replacement MyKad is issued so the card matches.

The part where experience differs

We are reporting this as JPN described it, because it is the practical reality applicants face.

For Muslims: JPN indicated that applications from Muslims to remove the bin or binti might take some time, as the application would need to be reviewed. But if they find a legitimate reason, they would allow it.

For Indians: the process is reported as easier, with readers having successfully applied to remove a/l and a/p from their own and their children's MyKads.

Why the difference exists. For Malays and other Muslims, post-independence practice reinforced the bin/binti structure in official documents, inserted by JPN to denote lineage for inheritance and religious purposes.

That inheritance point is substantive, not merely administrative. Faraid distribution depends on established lineage, and the connector is the documentary trace of it. If you are Muslim and considering removal, take advice on the inheritance implications before applying.

Doing it at registration instead

The easiest time to omit a connector is when registering a birth, rather than amending later.

Reported accounts from parents describe registering children without a/l or a/p from as early as 2003–2005, and one parent describing having done so for all his children while also incorporating the mother's family name.

A practical reason parents give: adopting a consistent family surname greatly simplified applications for foreign residency, since naming conventions in non-Muslim countries tend to use a family name rather than the father's name.

JPN told AskLegal that removal applications are generally made by those who have migrated overseas, for precisely that reason.

The counter-argument, also made publicly by Malaysians working in enforcement and healthcare: connectors assist identification and tracing across systems. The response is that Chinese Malaysians are traced without any connector, using the IC or passport number.

The "bin Abdullah" question is different

Do not confuse a voluntary removal application with the "bin Abdullah" litigation.

That line of cases concerns illegitimate Muslim children on whom JPN imposed "bin Abdullah" rather than the father's name. It is about an imposed patronymic, not about dropping a connector by choice.

The parents' framing in that litigation, per lawyer K. Shanmuga: they were not asking to legitimise the child, only two things — "do not impose 'bin Abdullah' on the birth certificate; do not put 'Permohonan Seksyen 13' on birth certificate" — to prevent stigma.

The outcome was mixed. The Court of Appeal in May 2017 quashed the NRD Director-General's decision, holding that a fatwa is not law, has no force of law, and cannot be the legal basis for the NRD's decision on the surname of illegitimate Muslim children. The Federal Court in February 2020 then held that s.13A did not permit the father's name to be used, while ordering "bin Abdullah" removed — see (JPN Will Reject "Haji", "Dr" And Any Fruit. The Longest Registered Malaysian Name Is 15 Words.).

A separate Sarawak case ended differently. A boy adopted by a Muslim couple was permitted to have only his adoptive father's name after the Sibu district officer withdrew his appeal in February 2022, leaving the High Court order standing.

One thing to know about ICs without a father's name

An IC that omits the father's name is not necessarily fake.

Reported situations include Muslim children whose parents' marriage was not validly registered, where JPN does not permit bin/binti with the father's name on the birth certificate or MyKad — the father's name appearing only in a statutory declaration.

This has real consequences, including reported difficulty accessing aid where documentation is incomplete. To verify whether an IC is genuine, check directly with JPN using the IC number.