GE2015 candidate finds out he's actually Chinese, not Malay

For more than 47 years, Mohamad Fahmi Ahmad Rais thought he was a Malay.

His parents were Malay. He had a Malay name. His Singapore identity card stated he was a Malay.

And although he was teased over the years for looking like a Chinese, he brushed it off.

In his later years, he even embraced it, saying he was "a politically correct Singapore citizen because I am a Malay who look like a Chinese and married to an Indian".

Then, a month before his 48th birthday, Mr Fahmi found out he was adopted and actually a Chinese.

"After 48 years of living as a Malay and championing the community cause, in one single night, I am now a Chinese," the father of four wrote on his blog.

"After 48 years, I now need to find who I really am."

The discovery

He made the life-changing discovery last Saturday (Nov 14) "when I visited my only living grandmother and in a casual conversation asked her if indeed I am adopted", he wrote on his blog on Tuesday (Nov 17).

Mr Fahmi, who has four children, said he expected her to dismiss the matter, and was shocked when she did otherwise.

"In short, I am lost. The last 3 days I stared at myself a little longer when I looked into the mirror. That is because I see a stranger in it," he wrote.

My Fahmi's adoptive father died in 1987 and his adoptive mother, in 1994. 

"And (in) the next 21 years that follow (sic), everyone with information of who I really am did not share with me that information. It was probably the best kept family secret," he wrote.

He added: "My parents have their reasons and that I respect. But for the others who knew and kept it that way and claiming (sic) to do so out of love, that I cannot understand. I bear no grudges, just disappointment. "

Adoption is not an alien concept to Mr Fahmi. His second daughter is adopted.

Photo of Mr Fahmi with his wife and three of his four children taken in 2006. PHOTO: TNP

"I love her like my own. And though I have taken the liberty to change her birth certificate for convenience purposes, I did not hide the truth about who her real parents are. I want her to grow up loving me as her father, like her own real father. I do not want the love to be based on a lie," he wrote.

Mr Fahmi was a Singaporeans First candidate for Tanjong Pagar GRC in the 2015 general election.

Singaporeans First candidates (from left) Chirag Desai, Wong Chee Wai, secretary-general Tan Jee Say, Fahmi Rais and Melvyn Chiu. PHOTO: ST

He is now on a mission to reunite with his biological siblings.

"They are not a party to the decision that my biological parents made when they decided to give or sell me away," he wrote.

He has posted his story on his blog and on a Facebook page called Roots Seeker in the hope of finding clues to his identity.

He has requested for those with information to message him privately through Facebook.