Bin / Binti

Today I received an email from my campus central regarding my graduation processes. I was asked to check my details are correctly entered for the parchment. I read through the sample parchment and my eyes stopped at my name. I know this might sound ridiculous, but I really think the word 'BINTI' should be included in this kind of legal document. Sorryla.. Come on, kalau kita tak kisah pasal nama kita then who should? Plus, it's not like u're going to graduate every day kan? Usually when u fill up the form and asked to write your full name, did u include the word BIN/BINTI? No? Well, I did.

So, lalala I went to the student centre to fight for my 'BINTI'. I took the personal details changes form and wondering where should I put the word 'BINTI'? In the Family Name column? No. That's not my father's name. And I don't want these Mat Saleh to start calling me 'BINTI MOHD' like they did to 'BIN LADEN'. Maybe I should put in the First Name column. No. My name is obviously not NURZA... BINTI. Hmmmm.. Mana ek nak letak? Then I decided to dump the problem to the officer. Let her do the thinking part. Well, they created the not-so-intelligent form, not me. So berbekalkan dengan semangat 'BINTI' I went staright to the counter. Bermulalah proses ayam cakap dengan itik..

Aku keluarkan segala document yang ada kat aku sampailah kad kahwin pun aku keluarkan. Then dia tanya soalan cepu emas yang aku pun pening kepala fikir tadi. So, where should I put the word 'BINTI' in this form? Is it your name or your family name? Adusss.. Aku jugak ke kena fikir..? I told her actually that word represents 'the daughter of', so it is not suppose to be under any column. Mula2 dia macam ternganga kejap, then tiba2 dia excited giler. Laaa.. Makcik ni kenapa.. Tau dia tanya apa lepas tu?

"So, BIN LADEN is actually 'the son of' LADEN? That's obviously not his name right?"

Now it's my turn to nganga. Alaaa makcik ni. Tak bole ke tanya soalan yang senang sikit. Tanyala pasal mamat kerja kat library tu ke, minah yang kerja kat cafe ke. Terus samakan aku dengan Osama Bin Laden. Ish.. But then suddenly I feel like millions of Muslims are standing behind me waiting for my say and fight for their names. Suddenly the heroic feelings start to fill me up. Tiba2 my flowery dress macam bertukar jadi baju askar disertakan dengan topi askar yang stylish. This is my chance to change the Mat Saleh ignorance towards Muslim names.

"Yup. You're absolutely right! His name is actually Osama. We usually use our first name instead of our father's name. And the word 'BIN' is not his father's name either."

"Wow! This is totally new for me! Thank you for bringing up this issue. I should educate the rest. By the way, in this case you still need to provide your passport. I'm sorry."

Baju dah tukar jadi dress balik. Pandai betul. Obviously kena bawa passport kan? Bukannya kat Malaysia, tunjuk IC dah boleh settle. My bad..