KUALA LUMPUR – The story of three babies, including a pair of twins, switched at birth could well be a plot of a soap opera.
The incident, believed due to the negligence of staff at a Kota Bharu hospital, where the three babies were born, was only discovered 19 years later. It was shocking news for the families concerned.
For 19 years, Adryani Iwani and Adryana Iwani grew up as non-identical twins, not realising that they are not even biological twin sisters. The former’s real twin sister is Noratirah, who was then raised by another family.
Their biological ties were discovered through a DNA test conducted in September last year.
According to Adryani Iwani, the truth started to unfold when she attended a motivational camp while she was in Form Four.
“At the camp, I met students from another school who said that I looked like their friend, Noratirah. I then asked them for a picture of Noratirah and they shared her Instagram account.
“I told my twin sister about it and she agreed that Noratirah and I looked the same, but when I told my mother about it, she dismissed it. So, I just let it go and regarded our similar looks as simply [being like] two peas in a pod,” she told Bernama.
However, as fate would have it, Adryani Iwani and Noratirah met face to face for the first time at a ‘Jom Masuk U’ Carnival. It was held at a supermarket in Kota Bharu in March 2019.
“Both of us were stunned to see our similarities. We were lost for words and only stared at each other and the incident was noticed by our friends,” she added.
In August last year, Adryani Iwani uploaded photos of her birthday celebration on her Instagram. Friends who saw it told her she and Noratirah shared the same birthday, which is August 19.
“This led Noratirah to contact me through Instagram. Since then, we discussed a lot of things and discovered that there are too many similarities between us to be regarded as a coincidence. So, we decided to go for a DNA test.
“After discussing the matter with both our families, we agreed to proceed with the DNA test at Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital (HUSM) in Kubang Kerian to see if we are biologically related,” she said. Blood samples from her, her mother Siti Aminah Ismail, 66, Adryana Iwani, Noratirah and Noratirah’s “father”, Husin Omar, from Kampung Pulau Kundur, Kota Bharu, were taken for analysis.
“The result, which found Noratirah and I are 99.99% twin sisters, shocked us, especially my mother, who broke down in tears.
“The result also found that Adryana Iwani, who was registered as my twin sister, is actually the biological daughter of Husin Omar and Rahmah Isa (who died in 2018) who were named as Noratirah’s parents,” she said.
Meanwhile, Adryani Iwani’s sister, Ayu Haryani, 42, said when her mother gave birth to her twin sisters, who are the youngest, the family was not informed whether they were identical or not.
“The tags on their legs bore my mother’s name, so our family accepted them as our non-identical twins,” she added.
Ayu Haryani is the second child. She has an older brother, three younger brothers and four sisters, including the twins.
She said based on the birth certificates of Noratirah, Adryana Iwani and Adryani Iwani, they were born at 1.14am, 1.27am and 1.34am, respectively, on August 19, 2001.
She said her mother was initially reluctant to accept the DNA results and the matter was not revealed to anyone for fear of causing psychological impact, especially on Adryana Iwani.
Despite the results, Ayu Haryani said the family still regarded Adryana Iwani as their sibling and wanted her to continue to live with them.
“Her biological mother has passed, while her biological father died two months after we got the DNA results,” she said. Her family had appointed a lawyer to take legal action against parties concerned.
With the truth uncovered, Noratirah has moved in to stay with her biological family in Kampung Langgar, Kota Bharu, since last January. – Bernama, June 27, 2021
