Man 'born' on February 31

Man 'born' on February 31

In the latest embarrassing incident of bureaucratic incompetence on the part of the Interior Ministry, a man in Prachin Buri province has been issued with an identity card with the birth date of February 31, 1961, Spring News reported.

                             The mistake. Photo from Spring News.

The man, Buarai Phaosaeng, from a village in tambon Nonsi in Prachin Buri's Kabin Buri district, showed his ID card with the wrong birth date to the media on Sunday.

According to Mr Buarai, the birth date on his birth certificate is Wednesday, Jan 31, 1960. When he turned 17, he applied for an ID card at the Kabin Buri district office. The birth date on the first issue of the ID was correct, so was the second one upon renewal.

The mistake was made when he was 27 and went to the district office to get the ID card renewed for the second time. An ID card is required to be renewed every five years.

He was issued a new ID card and the birth date on it was February 31, 1961 and the expiry date was February 30, 2020. Neither date exists.

Mr Buarai also found the same mistake on his domicile registration paper, on which his birth date is recorded as February 31, 1961.

He said he tried to get his birth date corrected, both on the ID card and the domicile registration paper, but officials only told him to continue using them.

In a similar mistake, an assistant village headman, Sangwien Khuncharoen, of tambon Khlong Thap Chan in Sa Kaew's Aranyaprathet district, was issued an ID card which showed he was born on February 30.

The case made news headlines and he was harshly rebuked by Interior Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan for going to the media, prompting him to resign his post.

Mr Sangwien has had his birth date corrected.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (12)