JAKARTA: The good, the bad and the smelly. What’s in a name but a lasting impression? For one man, it was literally an embarrassing whiff that followed him for most part of his young life.
To be saddled with the name Kentut, which literally means fart, was probably the bane of this man's existence.
Fortunately, Monday proved to be a brand new life for the man, when the Tangerang District Court granted his plea to officially have his name changed from Kentut to Ihsan Hadi.
As reported in The Jakarta Post, Ihsan filed the request following a complaint from his son.
The Indonesian English daily also quoted Ihsan as saying that he is thankful to have his request granted by the court.
“I am very happy. I will feel more confident and my son will not be embarrassed anymore because his father now has a decent name,” the 30-year-old noodle seller said.
Attributing the news to tribunnews.com, it is understood that Ihsan’s son had often refused to go to school because he was constantly teased by his friends about his father’s unusual name.
Ihsan had claimed that his parents – for no particular reason – had named him Kentut when he was born 30 years ago.
Tribunnews.com also reported that an overjoyed Ihsan performed the ‘sujud syukur’ (prostration of thankfulness) several times in the courtroom when Judge Elly Istianawati, who presided over the case, read out the verdict on Monday morning.
Ihsan also said that he had wanted to change his name for the longest time but no one in his village was aware of the legal process involved, which meant that he had to live with the off-putting names for years.
The Jakarta Post also detailed that Ihsan has been staying in Tangerang for the past 10 years with his wife and three children. He filed the request on the same Monday.