Only a person with a legal identity can initiate legal proceedings; mere name changes do not alter legal status. The failure to establish a competent party renders appeals incompetent.

Tengku Baharudin Shah JCA:

[1] When these appeals came before us the parties agreed, as similarly done in the court below, that only appeal RS No. B-01-77-06 be heard and the decision thereon would bind the other appeals RS No. B-01-76-06 and RS No. B-01-78-06.

[2] At the outset, I asked the parties to submit on whether we had a competent appeal before us as the appellant appeared to have no legal entity and whether a non legal entity could prosecute the appeal or initiate an action in court.

[3] Learned counsel for the appellant En. Edmund Bon referred to the Deed Poll at p. 312 of the appeal record (AR) and submitted that the appellant had stopped using her Muslim name of Noorashikin Lim binti Abdullah (Noorashikin) by the said Deed Poll. He referred to her birth certificate at 279 AR which bore her original Chinese name of Lim Yoke Khoon. He also referred to her conversion certificate at 281 AR and contended that there was no dispute as to her identity and no prejudice was caused. He further submitted that the name of the appellant referred to a legal person and a living person.

[4] In the event the court was not with him learned counsel sought to make an oral amendment to the appellant's name by substituting the later name in the title of this proceeding with the earlier name and vice versa.

[5] Datin Paduka Zauyah on behalf of Kerajaan Negeri Selangor (second respondent) contended that the appellant ceased to exist in law when she converted to Islam and took another name. Learned counsel did not object to the name change at first but later reversed her stand. She averred that the appeal was not competent because the appellant was not a legal entity. She referred to the Surat Akuan at 306 AR and the Deed Poll at 312 AR. Pn. Kamar Azura for Majlis Agama Islam (first respondent) objected to the amendment as the appeal was Incompetant. She pointed that the identity card (I/C) number differed from the present I/C number in the Muslim name. In fact the Deed Poll at 292 AR was sworn by Noorashikin but signed by Lim Yoke Khoon. She also pointed out that the I/C number in Surat Akuan at 306 AR did not in fact refer to the person named in the I/C of that number at 280 AR.

[6] En. Arik Sanusi for the Director General of the National Registration Department (third respondent) and the Government of Malaysia (fourth respondent) also submitted that the appeal was incompetent because the names used were confusing. He contended that in law the identity of a person is based on his I/C. The person named as plaintiff and now the appellant no longer existed. On that basis he raised a preliminary objection that the misnomer was fatal as there was no plaintiff or appellant as named.

[7] In his reply En. Bon said since the originating summons (OS) was served with the supporting affidavit until then there was no dispute as to the identity of the appellant as a legal and natural person, a Malaysian citizen and a competent person to seek remedies in this court. There was no question of multiple identities. He stressed that no disability was shown by the respondent in law or fact which prevented the appellant from seeking legal remedies.

[8] At the close of arguments we ruled by majority, with our late brother Vincent Ng JCA dissenting, that the appeal was incompetent and not properly before the court. The person named as the appellant who was also the plaintiff in the court below was not a legal entity. She had converted to Islam and acquired a new identity by the name of Noorashikin and also changed her I/C to I/C No. 730218-05-512