The Phenomenon Of Zizy, A Blue-eyed Child Like A European In Pekanbaru

Dzakira Azizy Naqiya (ANTARA PHOTO / FB Anggoro)

PEKANBARU - At first glance Dzakira Azizy Naqiya looks like a shy little child, who often hides behind his mother.

Her hair is black and has shoulder length curls. His skin is brown in color, and his nose is not sharp either, very characteristic of Indonesian exoticism. However, the six-year-old's eyes were really special, because they were blue like Europeans.

Zizy, as he is fondly called, has blue eyes without the need to use artificial contact lenses like our artists today. The sparkle of his blue eyes was like a clear sky, brightened even more when exposed to the reflection of the light, and adorned with eyebrows that blended toward his nose.

This girl is now busy in cyberspace because her videos are spread or viral, because she has blue eyes and is considered a rare phenomenon. In fact, Zizy is an Indonesian, the only child of the married couple Zulbahri and Ermi Julita, in Pekanbaru City, Riau Province. They are not a noble "Caucasian" family, and Zizy's father works as a delivery driver for refill gallons of drinking water.

"To my knowledge, we are still native Indonesians. These blue eyes are descended from his grandfather, ”said Zulbahri in Pekanbaru as quoted by Antara, Tuesday, October 6.

This 48 year old man also has blue eyes, but due to the age factor the color fades a bit. He said there was no valid explanation for how they had acquired such an unusual eye for the Southeast Asian. However, Zulbahri said there was a hereditary factor from his father's family in Bukittinggi City, West Sumatra Province.

"My father had blue eyes too, and he said my grandfather had blue eyes too. But I never asked him where he came from because his name was also a villager, not very open. In my village (Bukittinggi), only our family has blue eyes, ”he said.

Zulbahri has an older sister who also has blue eyes, but none of her cousins are like them. Neither did the children of her older sister. Blue eyes appeared again in his family when Zizy was born on March 13, 2013.

"He is the child we are looking forward to. We are waiting for seven years," said Zulbahri, telling of his only child.

Even though the eye color is different from that of Indonesians in general, he said he never complained of pain in his eyes. Her father's eyesight remained good until he died at the age of 70, as well as his older sister, who until now doesn't wear glasses.

"My child's view is also good, it can be used to play and read," he said.

Ermi Julita, Zizy's mother said she was surprised when she first saw that the long-awaited child was like a European foreigner. Moreover, he only realized it when Zizy was about a month old. The child was born by caesarean section at a hospital in Pekanbaru.

She said that when she was a baby, Zizy slept more often, so that her beautiful eyes could not be seen. "When the nurses and doctors were born they didn't really pay attention to her eyes. I just saw her blue eyes when Zizy was at home for a month, when her father said our child had blue eyes," said Ermi.

Zizy is shy, especially when meeting new people for the first time. He considered that his child was very sensitive when someone talked about his eyes being different from other children. This is because Zizy's friends are afraid to see her.

"Some of his friends are used to seeing him, but there are also friends who say they are afraid to see his eyes," said Ermi.

Not Waardenburg Syndrome

"More beautiful children, sir! Sweet black skin, curly hair and blue eyes, ”said ophthalmologist Nofri Suriadi after seeing photos of Zizy with blue eyes, sent by Antara reporters.

This ophthalmologist at Arifin Achmad Hospital Pekanbaru said the blue eye case in Zizy's family was not due to Waardenburg syndrome. At this time there is also a busy discussion about the uniqueness of the Butonese in North Sulawesi Province, who have many blue eyes because of the Waardenburg syndrome. The phenomenon of the Butonese blue eye has become a media review in Europe.

Scientifically speaking, the syndrome is a very rare hereditary genetic mutation, and apart from making the eye color different, it can also cause hearing loss. However, the Zizy case is believed to be different.

"No," said Dr. Nofri Suriadi briefly.

According to Dr. Nofri Suriadi, the Zizy family has blue iris like Europeans, which is genetically inherited and does not happen much in Indonesia. Iris functions to regulate the incoming light and determine the color of the human eye. "If you look at the photo, this is the color of the iris that is blue, so that you can see from the outside or from afar you see blue eyes," he said.

He explained that the color of the iris is passed down from parent to child, as well as hair color. For Indonesians, generally their hair is black and irises are dark brown. Meanwhile, for some people like Zizy, the iris is blue like the European people in general.

The blue eye color is genetically inherited. There are various inheritance patterns, some are dominant, recessive, and so on. If the inheritance pattern is dominant, then chances are that the child's irises will also be blue. Meanwhile, in a recessive inheritance pattern, the blue eyes may or may not appear in the next generation.

"If the inheritance pattern is recessive, it could be that the grandmother doesn't appear right, but there are genes that carry the color that appear in children or grandchildren," he said.

According to him, there are blue irises in Indonesians, but it doesn't happen much. He admitted that he had found similar cases in Jakarta and during his practice as an ophthalmologist in Pekanbaru City.

"Because I practiced in Pekanbaru, I saw cases like this in Pekanbaru, and in Jakarta when I went to school in Jakarta," he said.

Most importantly, Dr. Nofri Suriadi said, the blue iris in the Zizy family did not have a bad impact on their vision health. "This is no problem for eye health. The color of this iris is the same as the iris of Europeans, blue, ”he said.