Obama birth certificate released to put end to 'carnival barkers'
US president says in TV statement he is puzzled at how questions over his place of birth have persisted
Obama's birth certificate states that the president was born Barack Hussein Obama II in Honolulu city in 1961.
The White House has released Barack Obama's full birth certificate in an effort to finally put to rest what Obama called "carnival barkers" making the matter a distraction from the serious issues facing the US.
In a televised statement, Obama said he had been "puzzled" at how questions over his place of birth had persisted since his election in 2008, declaring: "We do not have time for this kind of silliness."
"We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers," Obama said.
Donald Trump, the real estate dealer and television personality reportedly weighing a run for the Republican presidential nomination, immediately took credit for Obama's announcement.
"Today I'm very proud of myself because I've accomplished something that nobody else was able to accomplish," Trump told journalists at an airport in New Hampshire, after repeatedly raising the subject in recent interviews.
Trump has claimed to have investigators in Hawaii researching Obama's birth, although he has not given any details and a CNN investigation failed to find evidence of anyone working on Trump's behalf.
Hawaii's registrar certified the new photocopy of the document provided to the White House on Monday. It states that Barack Hussein Obama II was born at 7.24pm on 4 August 1961 at the Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu city.
The certificate is signed by the delivery doctor, Obama's mother and the district registrar. His mother, then 18, signed her name (Stanley) Ann Dunham Obama.
The birth certificate records the president's father as Barack Hussein Obama, age 25, born in Kenya, and lists his occupation as student and "race of father" as African.
Obama's mother is recorded as "Caucasian" under race, and as born in Wichita, Kansas.
The White House also released a letter from the president requesting two certified copies of his original certificate of live birth. Also released was a letter from Loretta Fuddy, Hawaii's director of health, approving the request.
In a further statement, the White House said Obama had requested Hawaii's state department of health to make an exception to allow the legal release of the certificate, and that it granted an exemption in part "because of the tremendous volume of requests they had been getting".
The decision to release the so-called long form certificate may end the convoluted conspiracy theories advanced by a small group who believed Obama was secretly born outside the United States – most likely in Kenya, his father's home country – and smuggled back into the country.
In an effort to quell the rumours the Obama campaign released a copy of his short-form birth certificate before the 2008 presidential election. But the rumours persisted, and a recent Gallup poll published by USA Today found that nearly one in four Americans think Obama was probably or definitely born in another country, while 20% said they didn't know. Only 38% of Americans polled said Obama was definitely born in the US.
p/s people don't get to choose which land they are born in or the one they will end up dying in. That is part of God's grand plan. Naturally, where I am from has a lot to do with who I am and what I care about in life. As I travel around the world, I discover that every land is special and people have something special to share no matter where they are from. That is why I have decided to call myself a citizen of the world. Yet this doesn't deny the imperfect scenario that we have today. The passport that identifies my country of origin decides whether or not I can gain entry into someone else's "land" and to return back to my own. In reality, who did God assign each land for when He created it?
In this day and age, the most successful countries are the ones that are most tolerant and most multi-racial. If there's anything that I'm proud about for being born and raised Malaysian, it is the tolerance.
Despite the bickering and name-calling that some people do, Malaysians at the end of the day are polite and respectful to one another - so polite to enable every culture to maintain its own tradition and celebration for generations. In many democratic countries in the West, the closest we can get to this is the assimilation of all cultural holidays into the main one: Christmas. As long as everyone is willing to switch the date of their celebrations to some time around December - then, their celebrations get noticed or mentioned. Not so in Malaysia. Every few months there is some kind of ethnic or religious celebration. May God continue to bless Malaysia with a spirit of tolerance.
Now that we've come this far, I wish people have the confidence to actually get to know each of those traditions as if it was their very own. Just knowing something does not mean that we are disavowing our own culture or religion. It can actually enrich us. We can actually open our eyes to the beauty of our own culture or religion, and appreciate it more. Alternatively, we might decide that our culture and/or religion is not what we expected it to be, and we would rather follow our heart in search of the truth that will enrich our future life.Who is to stop us?
In Islamic tradition, there were many examples of the Prophet Muhammad's companion who went in search of Truth. Such was Salman al-Farsi who left his princely life in Persia as a Zoroastrian, to dedicate religious service to a rabbi, then to the priests of more than one monastery, until he is finally led to Muhammad. There is a prophet of God - Abraham who had to run from his people for his heart no longer resonate with theirs and had only God to guide him.
Every choice we made is already known to God. It is best to seek God's guidance by calling on Him before every decision. What's in a culture other than centuries-old attachment to the ancestors. If they are indeed proven to be better than us, then we should emulate them. But if we find something more convincing than what they had, then culture is nothing but a means to solidify our existence while we are not yet confident in ourselves. Once we have secured our place as human beings on this earth, then the fetter of culture is nothing less than suffocation. We have God with us always. Let us look inside our hearts, and feel faith. Then, peace will ensue. Let us be proud to be a part of globalization rather then shunning others. The more we know about others the more enriched we become. Each of us has a unique way of dealing with various issues. When we pool all the resources together to solve problems or move ahead in nation-building, we are in fact allowing ourselves to evolve as citizens of the world. If we insist on policing who gets to stay on our neck of the woods and who must leave, then in the box we will stay. As the Malay saying goes "bagaikan katak bawah tempurung." (like a sheltered frog)
Despite the bickering and name-calling that some people do, Malaysians at the end of the day are polite and respectful to one another - so polite to enable every culture to maintain its own tradition and celebration for generations. In many democratic countries in the West, the closest we can get to this is the assimilation of all cultural holidays into the main one: Christmas. As long as everyone is willing to switch the date of their celebrations to some time around December - then, their celebrations get noticed or mentioned. Not so in Malaysia. Every few months there is some kind of ethnic or religious celebration. May God continue to bless Malaysia with a spirit of tolerance.
Now that we've come this far, I wish people have the confidence to actually get to know each of those traditions as if it was their very own. Just knowing something does not mean that we are disavowing our own culture or religion. It can actually enrich us. We can actually open our eyes to the beauty of our own culture or religion, and appreciate it more. Alternatively, we might decide that our culture and/or religion is not what we expected it to be, and we would rather follow our heart in search of the truth that will enrich our future life.Who is to stop us?
In Islamic tradition, there were many examples of the Prophet Muhammad's companion who went in search of Truth. Such was Salman al-Farsi who left his princely life in Persia as a Zoroastrian, to dedicate religious service to a rabbi, then to the priests of more than one monastery, until he is finally led to Muhammad. There is a prophet of God - Abraham who had to run from his people for his heart no longer resonate with theirs and had only God to guide him.
Every choice we made is already known to God. It is best to seek God's guidance by calling on Him before every decision. What's in a culture other than centuries-old attachment to the ancestors. If they are indeed proven to be better than us, then we should emulate them. But if we find something more convincing than what they had, then culture is nothing but a means to solidify our existence while we are not yet confident in ourselves. Once we have secured our place as human beings on this earth, then the fetter of culture is nothing less than suffocation. We have God with us always. Let us look inside our hearts, and feel faith. Then, peace will ensue. Let us be proud to be a part of globalization rather then shunning others. The more we know about others the more enriched we become. Each of us has a unique way of dealing with various issues. When we pool all the resources together to solve problems or move ahead in nation-building, we are in fact allowing ourselves to evolve as citizens of the world. If we insist on policing who gets to stay on our neck of the woods and who must leave, then in the box we will stay. As the Malay saying goes "bagaikan katak bawah tempurung." (like a sheltered frog)
... ANYWAY, I'M TRULY PROUD TO BE A MUSLIM MALAY...
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