Section 25

Except as provided in subsection (4), any clerical error which may be discovered in any register shall be corrected by the

Regional Registrar or a Senior Registrar, or by the Registrar or Deputy

Registrar discovering the error who shall initial the entry in which such error has been discovered.

Any error of fact or substance in any register may be corrected by entry (but so that no alteration on the original entry is made) by the Regional Registrar or a Senior Registrar on payment, by the person requiring such error to be corrected, of the prescribed fee, and on the production to him by the person requiring such error to be corrected of two statutory declarations setting forth the nature of the error and the facts of the case, and made by two persons required by this Ordinance to give information concerning the birth, still-birth or death with reference to which the error has been made, or, in default of such persons, then, by two credible persons having knowledge, to the satisfaction of the Regional Registrar or such Senior Registrar, of the truth of the case, and the Regional Registrar or such Senior

Registrar shall initial such entry and shall add thereto the day, month and year when such correction is made:

Provided that the Regional Registrar or such Senior Registrar may dispense with the production of any statutory declaration required under this subsection if he is satisfied of the error without its production.

[Am. F.L.N. 348/65; Mod. F.L.N. 348/65.]

Any clerical error in any register relating to any death registered on a certificate issued by a Magistrate, may on the receipt of a certificate from the Magistrate setting forth the nature of the error and authorizing the correction of such entry, be corrected by the

Regional Registrar or a Senior Registrar, who shall place his initials opposite the entry in which such error occurs and shall add thereto the day, month and year when such correction is made.

Any error of fact or substance in any register in connection with any death registered on a certificate issued by a Magistrate may, on receipt of a certificate from the Magistrate setting forth the nature of the error and the facts of the case, be corrected by an entry (but so that no alteration of the original entry is made) by the Regional

Registrar or a Senior Registrar, who shall add to such note or entry the words “Corrected by me on the authority of a certificate from a

Magistrate”, and shall sign such note or entry and shall add thereto the day, month and year when such correction is made.

Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (1) to (5)

inclusive, in any case—

When any person produces any document purporting to be an official record of a birth, still-birth or death and bearing a date prior to the 1st day of August, 1949, and the Regional Registrar or a Senior

Registrar is satisfied that the information contained therein would, had

Sarawak not been occupied by the Japanese, have been duly entered in the register, or otherwise should have been entered but cannot be traced in the register, the Regional Registrar or such Senior Registrar shall on being satisfied as to the accuracy thereof, enter the details of such birth, still-birth or death in the register in such manner as may be prescribed.

If the Regional Registrar is satisfied that two entries have been made in the register of births in respect of the same birth, he shall cause one of the said entries to be deleted.

If the Regional Registrar is satisfied that any entry in a register contained an error of fact, he shall cause the said entry to be corrected.

Before exercising the powers conferred upon him by subsections (8) and (9), the Regional Registrar shall give notice to all persons mentioned in the entry concerned who are known to him to be alive, and whose whereabouts are known to him or can be ascertained, of his intention to exercise his powers with regard to such entry, and shall inform them that they may, if they so desire, lodge written objection to the exercise of such power within a period of not less than one month from the date of such notice.

If the whereabouts of the said person or any of them is unknown and cannot be ascertained, or if they or any of them are known to be dead, the Regional Registrar shall publish notice of his intention in the

Gazette and in a newspaper published and circulating in Sarawak, and shall therein call upon any person having an interest in the matter and desiring to object to the proposed exercise of his powers to lodge written notice of his objection within a period of not less than one month from the date of publication of the said notice.

Upon expiry of the period for lodging objections provided by subsection (10) and after considering all objections which may, within that period, have been lodged, the Regional Registrar shall notify his decision regarding the deletion or alteration of the entry concerned to all persons who may have lodged objections.

Any person who is aggrieved by any exercise by the

Regional Registrar of his powers under subsection (8) or (9) may at any time appeal to the Minister.

[Subsections (8) to (12), Ins. Ord. No. 19/58.]

Extracts from registers