KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - Chen Jia Junn only received a name at 2 years of age when his "adoptive" parents decided to stop waiting for his biological father to return.

His "papa", Fong Guo, and "mummy", Huang Su Qin, felt the boy was their own as his parents had not come back for the toddler after leaving him with a friend, Tan Tean Meng.

It has been four years since Jia Junn last saw his father, only known as Ah Hui, who did not leave a birth certificate or other documents relating to his son.

Fong, who wants to legally adopt Jia Junn, cannot do so without a birth certificate.

"Jia Junn will be turning 7 next year and needs to go to school but cannot be registered as he does not have a birth certificate," he told pressmen at his Puchong home yesterday at a press conference arranged by special officer to Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, Datuk Lau Yeng Peng.

He tried registering Jia Junn at a school but the headmaster turned him down as he could not provide the document.

h Hui had left the child with Tan after saying that he was going on a business trip.

Tan then approached Fong, who owns a car workshop, to help him out.

Fong said Tan and he waited for a week for Ah Hui to contact them but he had not done so.

"There was no sign of him. Tan and I tried contacting him on his hand phone but there was no response.

"We kept waiting for him to contact us but he never returned our calls."

Fong and his wife now have a 3-year-old daughter, Pui Yeen.

Lau urged Ah Hui or Jia Junn's relatives to help secure documentation for him.

"Parents should not think that a child's birth certificate is not important. Their negligence in not securing this all-important document jeopardises the innocent child's future.

"In Jia Junn's case, we will help to expedite getting his birth certificate to enable him to attend school next year.

"We will report Jia Junn's case to the Welfare Department to help Fong adopt him."