Singapore Superhero: Batman Bin Suparman

You should never judge a book by its cover, but what if that book turned out to be a comic? Batman Bin Suparman might not be a joke, but his name sure is.

In Singapore, English is the most widely used language and all names are translated or converted to English when their Birth Certificate is issued.

batman-suparman-02a.jpg

On May 13, 1990, this young man was blessed with being named after two superheroes: Batman and Superman.

Unfortunately we were unable to find the boy for comment, as no one seems to know his alter egos…

(Thx to WishBone)

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123 Comments »

Comment by Allen
2008-04-03 13:14:40

LOL THAT IS NEVER GONNA GET OLD!!
last name:superman
first name:batman…
noone will ever take him seriously lol

Comment by sam
2008-04-07 09:42:23

i have a friend who knows this guy.. hes from queenstown sec..

Comment by ahahah
2008-04-08 00:40:59

HAHAHa batman the son of superman hahaha

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Comment by ash
2008-04-07 10:26:05

he’s from singapore. i’m sure he’ll be alright

 
Comment by a
2008-04-07 14:27:28

McLovin is still better

Comment by Huhuh
2008-04-07 20:50:26

Christ, kids are never bored of that dumb movie…

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Comment by Nina
2008-04-03 16:06:10

LOL! THats so true.

 
Comment by darkwing duck
2008-04-03 17:45:42

The best part here is the addition of “bin Suparman,” where “bin” means “son of” in Arabic.

Javanese is an ethnic group

Comment by Hinge
2008-04-07 00:58:12

So his kid could quite possibly be Spiderman bin Batman. “Leave me alone Billy, or my grandpa Suparman, will come beat your grandpa up!”

 
 
Comment by Trish
2008-04-03 20:16:21

It looks like it was paintshopped.

Comment by Miles
2008-04-06 11:10:35

Agreed

 
Comment by sheraz
2008-04-06 23:42:56

Its acctually not, I’ve met other people with similar names..cashman supermanian .

Comment by cygnus2112
2008-04-07 02:07:35

Even if you’ve met someone named God .. the ID is still photoshopped. It’s beyond obvious.

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Comment by Suparman
2008-04-07 00:40:40

suparman is a name. why’d anyone photoshopped that

Comment by come on
2008-04-07 20:17:14

“Batman bin Supar” is more like it… but there’s still probably even more photoshop work done. Is everyone here stupid as shit?

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Comment by cooope
2008-04-13 06:44:25

suparman is a commonly used javanese name…bt batman??
tahell???

 
 
 
Comment by Chain
2008-04-07 04:37:09

You just troll-baiting?
Doesn’t look like a manipulation to me. I’ve had a detailed look at it in Photoshop just in case…

The reason why the large text is darker is due to this being printed later on top of the base ID card (most likely using a different printing method). I’m sure this was your concern.

(( IF this is manipulated (highly unlikely) it is a _really_ professional job that has required a lot time to look authentic and not like a “funny fake ID” (i don’t bother with details here). Also they would most likely would have had access to a blank ID card. ))

Comment by bu jasim
2008-04-07 17:17:48

It’s not photoshopped. The arabic on the ID card says batman bin superman too

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Comment by niguhbluntz420
2008-04-07 21:16:34

you are no detective. there is a HIGH probability that not a single one of your suggested machinations are even remotely relevant to the story of where this originated. talk about uni-directional csi fantasy.

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Comment by web hosting guy
2008-04-03 20:53:34

With a name like that, this guy should be some kind of international fugitive? What if Bin Laden’s parents had named him “Batman Bin Suparman”. It sure would have been a little more entertaining to watch the evening news every night as commentators and political candidates discussed the whereabouts of Batman Bin Suparman.

Comment by Anonymous
2008-04-07 11:05:47

for sure you don’t know how the muslim name works..

Osama Bin Laden should be like this..

Osama - Son
Laden - Father

it’s not funny anymore when people keep calling him Bin Laden..
that dude name is Osama.

 
 
Comment by someguy
2008-04-03 22:27:55

you realize that, like darkwing duck points out, the muslims in southeast asia follow the general muslim convention of patronymic naming. so batman is his given name. and bin suparman would technically mean that his father’s name is suparman. his name actually means batman, son of suparman. what a team he and his father would be to achieve world peace. and finally, it can be put to rest that, superman (or at least suparman) is better than batman since he breathed life into batman.

 
Comment by Olivier
2008-04-04 12:54:48

The boy’s gonna be 18yo in next May. Is this the legal age to save the planet in Singapore?

 
Comment by Zizi
2008-04-04 14:25:45

WOw!!! that’s funny…heheh. the annoying part is that the boy will be bothered for the rest of his life…

 
Comment by Aikyrie
2008-04-04 16:37:26

Haha! Aw! That’s so sad. At least it’s a somewhat unique name :B

 
Comment by zxcvb
2008-04-04 19:51:20

Imagine this guy in the workplace:

“Mr. Suparman, sir?”

“Please…call me Batman.”

Comment by Allen
2008-04-04 20:40:47

AHAAJHAHAHAHAHAHAH
OMG ~ CLASSICCC

 
Comment by Ali7
2008-04-07 00:55:44

LOOOL for this

 
Comment by Osama
2008-04-07 05:50:13

Best comment! LMAO!

 
Comment by lulleluna
2008-04-08 09:07:21

lol thats comment make my leaft! very funny! hi! from mexico

 
Comment by Aaron
2008-04-13 04:53:30

LMAO!!!!!!

 
 
Comment by jason
2008-04-04 20:58:33

it’s a typo, the arabic says “sufarman”

Comment by quoquo
2008-04-07 08:20:53

Indonesians have F/P issues, just like the Japanese have L/R issues.

Comment by FW
2008-04-07 21:23:20

I think it’s more the fact that Arabic doesn’t contain the letter P in its alphabet, so for words like Pepsi, it would be read Bebsi, and Chicken would be read Gee-ken (no pronunciation/letter for Ch). Since Indonesia refer to Arabic, they have to comply with the alphabet/letter limitations.

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Comment by cooope
2008-04-13 06:49:19

there are 2 types of arabic lettering
the standard arabic(missing a few english letters)
and Jawi(added some letters like P..)
so yah…u cld read that as Suparman

 
 
 
 
Comment by Ari
2008-04-04 21:07:24

No it’s not a typo. “Suparman” is actually a common name for Javanese men, the only reason why it’s written “sufarman” in Arabic is because the Arabic has no original letter for “p”, different with the Javanese script. But “Batman” is a terrible joke from his parents to name their son with. He should sue them for he’s not going to get respect his whole life!

Comment by andry
2008-04-07 02:36:16

yes, SUPARMAN (no Superman) is common name in island of Java.
if you lived in Java Island long enough, there’s a fat chance you’ll gonna hear a joke about Suparman, ie:
“Q: What’s the difference between Superman and Suparman?
A: Suparman did not wear red underwear.”
etc…

Comment by kesha
2008-04-16 04:54:49

Incorrect.

A: Suparman wear underwear inside the trousers, Superman wear outside..

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Comment by Spiderman Bin Ironman
2008-04-05 04:23:16

nice spoof

Comment by Didymo
2008-04-07 04:31:44

It is not a ’spoof’ or a photoshop. It is his real name.

 
 
Comment by greg
2008-04-05 11:45:21

dude, i think that guy will get nothing but mad respect his whole life - he has the skills, resources, and powers of not 1 but 2 superheroes….well, whatever skills, resources, and powers those names might come with.

Comment by darkwing duck
2008-04-05 14:19:03

Batman does not possess any superpowers; he makes use of intellect, detective skills, science and technology, wealth, physical prowess, and intimidation in his war on crime.

Comment by Tom
2008-04-08 10:56:37

NNNNEEEERRRRRDDDD!!!!

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Comment by Anon
2008-05-15 00:03:50

You forgot ninjitsu.

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Comment by Captain marvellous
2008-04-05 18:07:04

Já sæll B2 vitlaus sem skírir þennan link “Pabbi hans hlýtur að dýrka Marvel-myndasögublöð”….

Batman og Supermann eru hvorugir úr Marvel myndasögublöðum, heldur DC Comics, aðalkeppinautnum.

(vinur minn var alveg mega pirraður yfir þessu svo þetta er svona drasl sem alvöru neeerds myndu posta, aahah)

 
Comment by subcorpus
2008-04-06 22:10:51

what ever powers superman has …
or whatever super powers that batman lacks …
this dude is gonna have a hard time in school …
and fun time at work …
fun for the office … not for him thougth …
:(

 
Comment by ray
2008-04-06 22:28:45

LOL..this is funny. I just hope ppl don’t make fun of him when he grows up.

 
Comment by gunpistolman
2008-04-06 22:30:45

The Arabic word for ‘’son of” isn’t bin… it’s ibn.

Comment by hellno
2008-04-07 06:05:25

it’s actually both.

 
 
Comment by iwan
2008-04-06 22:48:33

He’s still lucky, could be worst if they named him Lex

 
Comment by H. Kaiser
2008-04-06 23:00:03

He should be hailed as God King of the Universe.

 
Comment by Jose Fernandez
2008-04-06 23:10:08

In other news, Joker bin Luthar was spotted terrorizing a small village in Singapore

 
Comment by xiph
2008-04-06 23:28:14

His name was probably Baiman Suparman. The I was photoshopped into a T.

Comment by Prawn
2008-04-07 19:57:20

Impossible. If you were to photoshop the I into a T, the space between the A and the M would be much smaller, giving no room to be able to drag out a line on top of the I.

Besides, if that were really the case, where the alleged photoshoppers were to drag the entire area to the right to make space for a T, then it’d look really, REALLY fake. Especially since the design of the NRIC is rather unique and extremely difficult to replicate properly.

 
 
Comment by Rico
2008-04-06 23:31:51

Chinese people are strange in naming their children.

By marriage (fiancee is Laotian), I will have a cousin named James Bond and George Bush. Of course, if you call George Bush by George Bush, he will only stare at you. He goes by “Jeh-oh Boo.”

Comment by Prawn
2008-04-10 00:59:24

Laotians are not Chinese.

 
Comment by chinese guy
2008-04-25 00:02:27

ignorant fool.

 
 
Comment by jo
2008-04-06 23:32:32

to make it worse… he is javanese, software engineer joke

 
Comment by callmevil
2008-04-06 23:49:45

photoshoped… seriously… just look at the font clarity.. and the B looks too fake.. compare the ‘black’ on the marker on the lion emblem with the BATMAN…

 
Comment by unifinbroker
2008-04-07 01:33:35

Cool!

 
Comment by Jack
2008-04-07 01:54:53

Suparman is a common name in Java (an island in Indonesia) and Batman is a translation of the Indonesian name for it: Kampret and some Javanese use that name as a nickname for a streetboy!

 
Comment by Chris
2008-04-07 02:12:58

LOL… oh my god that kid’s life is over.

 
Comment by Meany
2008-04-07 02:49:17

It’s like McLovin!

 
Comment by Vivian
2008-04-07 03:27:22

Did this kid upload his IC or he lost it or what??
But not bad for creativity. I wonder how many times he got laughed at behind his back.

 
Comment by spooner
2008-04-07 03:32:15

that’s amazing, i wish my name was batman.

 
Comment by Kamenik
2008-04-07 03:38:43

hahahaha, debil

 
Comment by Manoj Keswani
2008-04-07 05:11:47

snickers ad. who am i, you’re the coach. and who are you. ‘i’m batman’.

 
Comment by HaHa
2008-04-07 07:46:40

I can see it now, somebody asks him his name, he grabs them by the lapels and pulls them close, face to face and snarls, “My name is Batman!”

 
Comment by yaz
2008-04-07 07:55:45

“bin” actually means son in arabic. so its batman the son of superman.. thats too funny

 
Comment by BeyondRandom
2008-04-07 08:19:51

thats awesome! lol

 
Comment by Me
2008-04-07 08:53:17

It isn’t photoshopped you retareds, It’s written in Arabic too, and the literal translation would sound more like betmen bin soovermen.

 
Comment by Clement
2008-04-07 08:57:04

Batman may be short form for Batmanathan, which is quite a common indian name.

Comment by SPIDERMAN
2008-04-07 09:33:05

his not an indian -.- SMART-.-

 
 
Comment by Deri
2008-04-07 09:29:50

Note that Suparman is a common Javanese name, pronounced soo-par-mahn.
Also note that Javanese usually doesn’t have surname. Writing a name “A bin B” is a way to indicate line of inheritance.

 
Comment by steven
2008-04-07 14:55:46

FAKE

Comment by Prawn
2008-04-07 19:47:34

How would YOU know, genius?

 
 
Comment by nemo
2008-04-07 14:56:33

How was this guy’s ID card posted like this all over on the internet anyway?
Why is his personal information released to the public?
Was this done with or without his knowledge and consent?

Granted, I can understand that his name may be considered as mildly amusing, but this is a human being who deserves his privacy and dignity. If he were here to defend himself and let us know whether or not he can also appreciate the joke, I would not feel so strongly that his rights have been violated and this information was stolen and released without his knowledge or consent, which is no laughing matter.

 
Comment by porn lover guy
2008-04-07 15:41:55

haha that’s great.. to nemo, if that were to happen to me if i had some weird cool name like that i’d be laughing my ass off.. but you’re right his private information shouldnt be there like that

 
Comment by Only if you dare
2008-04-07 17:11:06

Identity card No. S…?
Wher`s the number?
Erased so nicely you cant even see it.
Id say it`s fake.

Comment by Prawn
2008-04-07 19:51:32

Use your head. It’s erased so you can’t bloody see it or make use of it.

How would you like it if your Identity number (with photo picture included!) was used without your consent to purchase mobile phones from the various telcoms? Obviously you haven’t thought of that. Also because it’s happened several times here already, in case you didn’t know, where people take on a false identity and rack up international phone bills.

Have fun thinking about it.

 
Comment by ThinkAbtIt
2008-04-12 20:23:43

What is the point of showing the Identity Card number? It serves NO purpose here as the funny part are the english and javanese names. On the other hand, there are serious consequences if the card number is shown.

Just because the guy who scanned his card has some common sense to block off the important card number, does not mean he made it all up.

 
 
Comment by Arnold Jäger
2008-04-07 18:11:44

This funny name even makes sense in German.
A word for word translation would mean something like: “Batman that’s me Superman”
or even “Batman I am Superman”

 
Comment by rolo
2008-04-07 18:12:40

…..pô dois em um!?!?,…que tipo de poder foi atribuído ao cara?……….. :D

 
Comment by Tony
2008-04-07 18:24:45

I used to work for a bank and I have a customer..he’s a regular..and I kid you not.. his name is Bruce Wayne Batman. Also..I had a Robin Hood and Janet Jackson..kid you not.

 
Comment by adam
2008-04-07 20:55:07

oh my! so cool name“““`

 
Comment by hhb
2008-04-07 21:45:13

the arabic reads more like “bethmin bin soofermin” but regardless that is just HILARIOUS!

 
Comment by napaboaniya
2008-04-08 01:50:01

@_@ I wonder what was his parents thinking off?!?!?!

 
Comment by palalabu
2008-04-08 05:21:48

all of you who said that this is photoshoped is a party pooper!!!

but usually Batman is a name for Batak people instead of Javanese rite?

 
Comment by Orangethetan
2008-04-08 05:59:41

These are the same sorts of nomenclaturial antics
that wound up with manuals for electronics which read
“If left jumper blue then set A(only B) dip switching”

Actual quote from my bus mouse user manual circa 1994.

 
Comment by Jones
2008-04-08 23:55:19

Hilarious, and it’s not clear if it’s ’shopped or not. There are plenty of similar names in Singapore and various regions.

 
Comment by Jadeite
2008-04-09 03:02:38

1) Our names are NOT translated into English. This is not an English translation of his name, it IS his name. For example, Wang Jiali is not an English translation of a Chinese name. A literal translation would be King Add Pretty, but nobody translates names like that! It is merely the Chinese name written with English letters, exactly how it sounds.

2) It doesn’t look photoshopped. Our ICs look like that. It is a base pink IC with the letters printed on top - but not with crappy ink, it’s not like you can scratch the name off. Also, the base pattern on the pink part would be difficult to photoshop. It’s a sort of holographic pattern thing embedded in the plastic of the card.

~ an annoyed Singaporean

Comment by Prawn
2008-04-09 21:08:23

Relax, what they mean by “translated” means to Romanize, or in many of our cases, to use hanyu pinyin or your dialect to turn the East Asian name (Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, etc) into something that people who can’t speak the language can (vaguely) pronounce.

And yes, I entirely agree with you on the fact that the NRIC is extremely difficult to photoshop, mainly because of the pink/blue patterns that make up the design of the card.

 
 
Comment by Jack Chen
2008-04-09 04:37:08

From some of the comments I will deduce they are likely some hillbillies living in the west, like the US. Just because we use the english alphabets for some things does not make it english. Most of the time, the english alphabet was used so that the English speaking minority (ignorant white folk) can pronounced some of the words in our language. So refering to ‘translated to English’ above, is plain wrong.

I am a Singaporean too. I am thinking maybe the clerk at the Registry or the father got the spelling wrong. I personally know a guy whose father’s surname was spelt wrong by the nurse at birth. His surname is Tan but ended up as Tang.

Comment by Jesus bin God
2008-04-09 14:14:21

To Jack Chen,
“Hillbillies living in the west, like the US”? Shut the F up.
“English speaking minority (ignorant white folk)”. Oh, the great “Javanese” speaking majority! Again, shut the F up.
Yes, there are ignorant people ALL OVER THE WORLD! You’ve just proven that.

Otherwise, great post!

Comment by Prawn
2008-04-10 01:03:23

And you, dear sir, have proven yourself to be as ignorant as Jack said you were. Try travelling to Singapore. You will find out VERY, VERY quickly that you ARE minority. Also, the majority in Singapore do NOT speak Javanese. They in fact, speak English, as well as their respective Mother Tongues.

And Jack Chen, try and make some non-Chinese friends. You will understand why Batman isn’t so unusual after all.

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Comment by ThinkAbtIt
2008-04-12 20:30:47

If you have friends with “Batman” as his name, you will know that it does not pronounce as bet-men but rather bart-marn. Similarly, “Suparman” is not su-per-men but su-par-marn. This two names are very common and they don’t sound the same as we english-speakers would pronounce them.

 
 
Comment by Jesus bin God
2008-04-09 14:15:41

Is that a picture of his dad (Suparman) below his picture?

Comment by Prawn
2008-04-10 00:56:41

No, that’s not his father, it’s Batman himself. The smaller picture is protected by a special plastic holographic material that makes forging an identity card a lot more difficult.

 
 
Comment by Connie
2008-04-10 14:33:40

LOL Then there must be a Robin bin Suparmin around as well :D

 
Comment by Mamica
2008-04-11 11:15:37

I know a guy who’s last name is suparman, so I say this is no joke

 
Comment by panggiring
2008-04-12 19:09:05

Batman bin Suparman

Batman is the real name.
Suparman is fathers name, many javanese people use “suparman” as name. :)

 
Comment by something
2008-04-13 03:36:10

I thought Singapore uses Jawi Arabic script. It has the letter P (the letter F with 3 dots above)

Seems like most name that starts with Su- are Javanese.

Comment by cooope
2008-04-13 07:01:43

true…Singapore does use the Jawi Arabic script..
bt not true to the Su part

 
 
Comment by Serena
2008-04-14 12:56:25

OMG this kid has the EXACT same birthday as me!! Same day, month, and Year!! SWEET!!!