Lack of Understanding of Malay and Indian Names

I often read in the papers wondering why such ignorance or lack of understanding of Malay and Indian names could go uncorrected for a long time.

Very often, we get to read names like Bin Laden. For goodness sake, that is NOT the way to read his name. His name is Osama, his father is Laden, so in a Muslim/Malay name, it is written as Osama Bin Laden, for a man; for a woman, Binte is used in place of Bin. He should be rightfully addressed as Osama. Period.

What about in an Indian name? In Malaysia, you often see Indian names such as Rajan A/L Govindasamy, for example. A/L means Anak Lelaki (a Malay word which means Son); in Singapore, S/O is used in place of A/L, which means "Son Of". The feminine version is D/O (Daughter Of), whereas in Malaysia it is A/P (Anak Perempuan).

I have previously commented about how Chinese names have been erroneously understood and written in the west. Read my blog on 11 October 2007. While one could be accommodating towards the lack of understanding towards his/her name by a foreign culture, I feel some conscientious effort has to be put into understanding names of a different nationality, ethnic group or culture as a basic form of courtesy and respect.